


Landslide

by midas_touch_of_angst



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, At least at the beginning anyway, Beach Summer Fun Buddies, Deviates From Canon, Family, Gen, No Romance, a couple of OCs but not too many, just family bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-12 18:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7117339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midas_touch_of_angst/pseuds/midas_touch_of_angst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven doesn't remember anything before the age of six. He's been traveling with Lapis Lazuli for years, but when they get separated, she tells him to go to a town called Beach City. While he's waiting for her, he starts to discover secrets that Lapis kept from him. And when he starts to have dreams about other gems on Earth, he wonders whether or not he can trust the only friend he's had for years.</p><p>Playlist: http://8tracks.com/badwolfcipher/l-e-ro-g-e-down</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Catching Up

Chapter One

 

Steven’s earliest memory was from when he was about five or six.

He remembered feeling hot, and dizzy and confused. He must have gotten hit on the head, because all he could remember was his first name- Steven. And he remembered a blue face curiously looking close at him, her eyes white and pupil-less. “Are you Steven?” she’d asked.

“Y-yeah?” he responded.

“Good. I’m Lapis. Let’s go.” she’d responded, then picked him up and ran.

He didn’t remember much after that, until after they’d made it to a forest, and Steven fell down. Lapis had seen his gem. She seemed angry at that, talking about how she shouldn’t have trusted “them” and was this some kind of joke? Steven hadn’t known what she was talking about, and instead started humming. She’d stopped pacing then, and watched as he started picking pieces of grass and tieing them together. “What are you doing?” she asked, a tinge of anger still in her voice.

“I dunno.” Steven replied. “Calms me down.”

Lapis sat next to him, looking down at his hands. “Why do you look like that?” she asked.

“Dunno.”

“But you said your name was-”

“Steven. That’s all I remember. Is that normal?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.”

Steven turned towards the blue girl, and caught a glimpse of her back. “You have a gem like me!” he shouted, suddenly feeling very excited and not really sure why.

“Yeah, but mine’s cracked.” Lapis said, turning around and showing him.

“Can you fix it?”

“No. Not without-” she stopped, looking down at the grass.

“Wi’out what?”

“Getting off-planet, I guess.”

“Why you wanna leave?”

“I gotta go home.”

“Can I come too?”

Lapis laughed, looking down at the little human boy. “Maybe someday. But I can’t go with my gem cracked.”

“You can stay with me!”

Lapis sighed. “Your home’s gone, Steven. You don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Oh.” Steven looked down at the grass he was tieing- it was almost as long as his leg now. “I guess we can find a new home together.”

“You don’t wanna stay with me.” Lapis said.

“But I do.” Steven smiled up at her. “You’re nice.”

Lapis then hugged him. “Okay.” she said. “Until I can fix my gem, I guess I can stay with you.”

 

 

Lapis and him went lots of places after that. Lapis liked to be near water, and Steven liked the tricks she showed him- it turned out she could control water, which excited Steven to no end.

They stayed in a place called Ocean Town for a bit, and Steven liked to go talk to the people. Lapis was very antisocial, so Steven was mostly on his own. He borrowed books from kids and found out he could read fairly well. He liked reading to Lapis, telling her things about the planet. “Did you know there’s water in the air?” he once said to her, as they huddled in the small cave Lapis and Steven stayed in. “That means it’s never far away!”

Steven would go to the Library all day, and read as much as he could. Lapis somehow got him new clothes and a sleeping bag- Steven never asked how, and she never explained. One day, a year after she found him, she gave him a ukulele. “There was one broken near you when I found you, and I thought you might like a new one.” she explained as he made various noises with the instrument. He immediately felt bad that he hadn’t gotten her anything, so he picked a flower up off the ground, and twisted the stem into a bracelet and gave it to her to wear. She wore it until it fell off.

Eventually, they left Ocean Town. Steven didn’t remember why, only that Lapis said they couldn’t go back. They went to several cities after that, with Lapis avoiding people and Steven seeking them out.

When he was about eight, they lived in an abandoned treehouse. Steven was bored, and asked Lapis, “What are gems?”

“We’re… we channel our energy through our gemstones.” Lapis explained. “So long as our gem is alright, we’ll be fine. But my gem’s broken, so I can’t do things as well as I used to.”

“Am I a gem?” Steven asked, thinking of the pink gem on his stomach.

“I don’t know. You have a Rose Quartz gem, but you seem organic. That means you probably can’t retreat into your gem.”

“What does that mean?”

“If our bodies are injured, we can go into our gemstones to heal. I can’t though, because-”

“And I can’t because I’m not a Rose?” Steven asked.

“Well, I think you might be part human.” Lapis said. “I think Rose Quartz somehow turned into a human, and that’s you. But you can’t remember being her, and I don’t know if you have her powers.”

“All gems have powers?”

“Yes. I can control water, Rubies can generate their own heat, and most gems can summon a weapon from their gemstones. My weapon is my powers over water.”

“What would I have?”

Lapis sighed and ruffled Steven’s hair. “Maybe you’ll find out.”

“But do you have a mom or dad?”

“No. Gems are made, not born.”

“So you’re an orphan?”

“Not really, I just said that no gems have parents.”

“Am I an orphan?”

Lapis sighed. “I don’t know, Steven, and I don’t want to find out.”

 

 

They kept moving. Lapis never told Steven why, only told him that they couldn’t stay in one place very long. Steven kept reading books, and kept playing his ukelele, one of the few things he could take with him. Lapis would get him clothes and food, but too many other things would be hard to carry. So everytime Lapis told him they had to leave, he’d put his clothes and ukulele in his sleeping bag and carry that. For his second “Lapis and Steven Day”, as he named it, Lapis got him a bag shaped like a cheeseburger to carry his stuff in, which “may-or-may-not have been snuck out of a warehouse.”

He eventually found that he and Lapis had a similar sense of humor. They sometimes played jokes on the people in the towns they’d stay in, especially fart jokes. Lapis loved to play in the water with Steven, though he couldn’t breathe as long underwater. She would sometimes make a bubble around his head, and take him to the sea floor, to see the fish swimming around him. Whenever she started to get quiet and sad, or whenever she got scared during storms, Steven would start to play a song on his ukulele, or make her a nice crown of flowers, or hug her until she calmed down.

“What’s home like?” he asked her once.

“It’s very big.” she said. “Gems are everywhere, and we all care about each other. We serve the Diamonds- Yellow, White, Blue, and- well, and we spread out. We were going to come to Earth, but… well, Homeworld left. And I was left behind.”

“Why’d they leave you behind?”

“They didn’t know who I was. I was trapped in a mirror for thousands of years.”

“Why?”

“That’s a story for another time.”

“How’d you get out?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

Steven heard that a lot. _Older people must know a lot._

When Steven was about fourteen, he and Lapis were on the move again. He didn’t know why, Lapis had seemed happy enough, and the people around were pretty nice.

“Where are we going this time?” he asked, holding Lapis’s hand.

“Dunno.” she shrugged. “Somewhere. We’ll stop by the city tomorrow to get you some food, then we have to go even farther. As far as we have to.”

Steven didn’t want to know what that meant, and it wasn’t like Lapis was going to explain anyway. So he pulled out his ukulele, and starting to strum a song. It was a song he played, though he never put any words to it. He felt like the words came from a long time ago, and it’d be wrong to rewrite them. The same four chords repeated- F, A, B flat and B flat minor. It was a pretty song. He wondered what the words used to be.


	2. Separated

Chapter Two

 

“Here.” Lapis handed Steven a wad of cash. “Buy as much food as you can.”

Steven looked down at the money, flipping through it. It was close to a hundred dollars. “Lapis, where did you get this?”

“I borrowed it.” she responded vaguely.

“From who?”

“It’s not important. I’ll stay here until you get back.”

“But it’s the city, Lapis. I could get lost. Can’t you stay with me?”

Lapis sighed and bent down to get face-to-face with him. “Steven,” she said, smiling, “We have to go fast. I don’t want to have to stop and explain to people why I’m blue.”

“But it’s the city, Lapis! Nobody’s going to ask.” Steven pleaded, grabbing Lapis’s hand. “Please?”

Lapis sighed. “But Steven-”

“Yay! I win!” Steven cheered, and starting running towards the city, pulling Lapis along with him.

 

 

Walking down the street, Lapis kept close to Steven, keeping to the dark and flinching whenever a person came near. “There’s not enough water around here.” she told Steven.

“There’s some in the air.” Steven reminded her.

“Even the air’s different.” Lapis whispered. “There’s a lot of smoke.”

“Which is like mist?” Steven asked.

“Not really.” Lapis shrugged.

Steven got quiet, looking around. People did stare a little at Lapis, but not as much as they normally did whenever they would stay near a town and Steven would take Lapis to see something. Lapis gripped Steven’s hand and pulled him into the store they needed, ducking behind a shelf. “Did you see anything?” she asked.

“Like what?” Steven was immediately alert.

“Like… something _big._ ”

Steven shook his head. He’d only seen Lapis like this twice before- and both times, they’d left the town immediately, and when he’d told other people he’d lived in that town before, they’d explain that town had been destroyed.

Lapis sighed. “Get a cart, pick out your food, and we have to _get out_.”

Steven nodded and started to grab food. He grabbed mostly vegetables and fruit, but he added a bag or two of candy as well- maybe he could convince Lapis to eat one of those? She never really liked eating.

They got in line at the register, with people glancing back at Lapis every now and again. Steven could tell Lapis was trying to ignore the attention, but she pulled herself closer to Steven and bent down to his height. They eventually made it to the front of the line, and the cashier looked at the two as they loaded the food onto the checkout. “Nice makeup.” she said to Lapis. “Who’re you supposed to be?”

Lapis bristled, but stayed silent. Steven responded for her. “Her name’s Lapis.”

“Never heard of that.” the cashier said. “Is there a convention near here?”

“We’re just passing through.” Lapis replied, looking up.

The cashier grinned. “Wow! Where did you get those contacts?”

“I don’t remember.” she said. “How much?”

The cashier read the total, and Steven smoothed out the wad of cash. “Is this enough?” he asked.

She flipped through the bills, eventually putting it away and handing Steven some change. “Thanks!” he said as Lapis grabbed their bags and stalked off. Steven followed as Lapis turned around and hid behind a shelf.

“Hand me your bag!” she said, and he gave her his backpack. She started loading the food in, muttering under her breath. Steven strained to hear what she was saying, but all he caught were mumbles about “ _Can’t stay… stupid gems… monsters…”_

“Monsters?” Steven asked as Lapis handed him his bag, and he slung it over one shoulder. “What about them?”

“Nothing.” Lapis stood up, grabbing Steven’s hand. “We’ve stayed here too long.”

They started to leave, but Steven ran into a bunch of bags. “Ah! Hold on!” he said, starting to pick them up and put them back.

“There’s no time!” Lapis argued, pulling Steven along with her. “Come on!”

“But-” Steven protested as Lapis started moving faster, pulling him out of the store and down the street. She started to run, but then slid to a stop in the middle of the street, staring ahead. Steven tried to follow her vision, but all he saw ahead of her was a group of people. “What is it?”

“I thought I saw-” Lapis shook her head. “Nevermind. Let’s go.”

She headed straight into the crowd, trying to keep her head low. Steven followed suite, trying to ignore the people running into him and past him. “It’s really loud!” he shouted to Lapis.

“Good.” she responded.

Suddenly, a kid ran into Steven from the side, and his bag fell off and into the street. “Wait!” he yelled, letting go of Lapis’s hand and running to grab it. He put the bag on and turned around, and was startled to find that Lapis had vanished. “Lapis?” he started to get sad, looking around, but not seeing her familiar blue hair. “ _Lapis?_ ”

He turned around, and tried to spot someone who could help. He ran towards a tall woman with two children in a stroller. “Miss?” he yelled, and she turned to look at him. “Miss, I lost my Mom. Can you help?”

The woman’s gaze immediately softened, and she leaned down to get to his level. “Of course. What does she look like?”

“She’s blue.”

“She has a blue dress?”

“Yeah, and also skin. And hair.”

The woman looked confused but nodded. “Okay.”

“Her name’s Lapis Lazuli.” Steven added. “I’m Steven.”

The mother smiled. “If we go off to the side of the crowd, maybe we can spot her.”

“Is there a place with a lot of water?” Steven asked as they started to move. “She likes water.”

“There’s a fountain nearby.” the woman said. “Do you have a phone? You can text her there.”

“I don’t have a phone, and I don’t think she does.” Steven responded. “She doesn’t like people things.”

The woman remained silent, and said something to her other kids. One was asleep, and the other was reading a book and just nodded along to their mother’s words.

They made it to the fountain, and the mother pulled out her phone. “I’m just going to tell my friends I might be a little late.” she explained to Steven.

“I’m sorry.” he said.

“It’s no trouble.” she replied, smiling. “Your mom probably won’t be too lo-”

Suddenly the ground shook, and a deafening roar sounded across the city. The crowd behind them and around them started running and screaming. The woman’s sleeping child woke up and started crying, and the other dropped her book and started to yell. The mother immediately turned around and started to try and calm them down. Steven hid behind the strolled and peered up. Something was _coming_ , he could feel it.

“You guys need to run!” Steven said once the children had calmed down.

“What?” the mother asked.

“It’s not safe for you!” Steven told her. “My mom’ll be here soon, just get your kids and go!”

“I’m not gonna leave-” the mom began, but Steven interrupted her.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve been trained to handle this!” Steven reassured her, which was, of course, an outright lie. Aside from maybe a few times Lapis punched someone who was yelling at her, Steven had never even seen a fight before.

“What does that-”

“Go!” Steven yelled, running into the fountain. The mother stayed for a second, then took a look at her screaming children and ran off with them, glancing back at Steven, who started to splash the water. “Lapis!” he yelled, hoping she’d be able to find the water. “ _Lapis_!”

He turned around just as a creature jumped through the crowd and towards him.

The monster was orange and slimy, with a flat head and long, bright beak. It had six legs, ending in pointed claws, and a long, spiky tail that swished back and forth. Its small, beady eyes, were looking directly at the boy in the fountain.

“Uh, good orange animal.” Steven said, backing away. He tripped, and fell into the water. As the water splashed around him, he blinked rapidly and looked up to see the animal charge, and covered his face.

The animal roared, and suddenly another splash landed in front of Steven. He looked up to see the animal fly backwards with a splash of water, and Lapis Lazuli standing in front of him.

“Lapis?” he asked.

“Stay behind me, Steven.” Lapis looked back at him, her expressionless eyes meeting his.

The monster charged again, and the water in the fountain rose up behind Steven to form a hand, as Lapis raised hers. She brought it down on the creature again, which caused it to fall over. She jumped out towards the creature and raised her arms, causing the water to rise from the ground and swirl around her. She shot it at the animal, once again knocking it off its feet. She approached it slowly, the water circling her once again. She came close, looking the animal right in its eyes. “You,” she said, her voice threatening. “You brought this on yourself.”

The animal then spun, knocking Lapis off her feet with its tail. Lapis fell over, the water collapsing around her. She yelled, surprised, and looked up as the animal roared above her.

“No!” Steven called, running ahead towards the gem. “Lapis!”

“Steven, no!” Lapis turned around, with a look Steven had never seen on her face- a look of panic.

It was too late. Steven jumped in front of the animal just as it was about to pounce-

-and a brilliant pink shield blocked the animal, covering both Lapis and Steven.

The monster fell back, roaring, and collided with the side of a building. It shook, trying to steady itself.

Steven’s eyes went wide as the shield– _his_ shield– disappeared. He’d summoned a weapon! He _was_ a real gem! “Lapis!” he turned, grinning. “Lapis, look, I did it! I di-”

He stopped when he saw the expression on Lapis’s face. She still looked scared- why? He was protecting her. But then it hit him. She was scared of _him_. He’d scared her.

The world around him seemed to slow as his mind spun. He’d only seen Lapis scared when she was trying to rush him to another town, and even then it’d only been a slight worry. She was scared of the monster, and she was scared of him. All he’d done was summon a shield, didn’t that prove he was a gem like her?

“L-Lapis?” he asked, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong.

Lapis shook her head, and threw her arms out. A shower of water covered them and threw a charging monster back. Steven’s world caught up with him, and he stepped back. Lapis got up behind him and sent another shower of water at the creature, who splashed the water aside and charged again.

Lapis grabbed Steven and jumped out of the way, sending them tumbling down the street. Lapis jumped up and put Steven down, looking at him with full seriousness. “Steven, you need to go. I can hold the Monster off for as long as I can, but there’ll be more on the way.”

“What?” Steven looked up at her. “Lapis, is this what we’ve been running from?”

Lapis looked back as the animal, which had run headfirst into a building, was straightening itself out. She turned back to Steven. “You still have some change, get to a town called Beach City. It’s in Delmarva, you should still have enough to get there. Don’t talk to anyone and wait for me there.”

“What are you gonna do?” Steven asked.

Lapis sighed. “What I have to. Now go.”

Steven stepped back, still looking at her. “Lapis, I’m sor-”

“Run!” Lapis yelled, and charged at the monster, hands extended, water surrounding her.

Steven had one last glance at her fighting the monster, leading it away from him, before he turned and ran.

He ran through crowds that had stopped to watch, crowds that were still fleeing in a panic. He kept a tight grip on his backpack, running down to the bus station. The crowds had thinned by then, as most people fled to the safety of their homes. Most of the people around glared at him as he ran across the floors, running up to the ticket lady and nearly slipping on the floors.

“One ticket to Beach City?” he dug through his bag and pulled out some change, slamming it on the counter.

The lady pulled the money towards her, scanned it, and handed him a ticket. “You’re in luck, kid. The bus is about to leave.”

“Great. Thanks!” he gave her a thumbs-up and started running again. The bus was nearby, he could reach it-

He looked behind him, out the window and saw something smoking far in the city. As he boarded the bus and hid himself in the back, he glanced out the window and saw something crumble in the city. Whatever Lapis was doing, it was clearly taking a toll on the city.

As the bus drove off, Steven caught his breath, and realized what he’d done. Steven slid down on the seat, and put his head down onto his backpack. He was completely alone. Lapis had let him wander off a lot, but she’d always been where he could find her, where she could reach him. And now he was heading off to a strange place, leaving her behind to fight monsters that were apparently tracking them.

He didn’t like being alone. He looked out the window to see the trees moving past.

“We hope you enjoy your ride with us to Beach City!” the driver called back to the bus of people. “We’ll be there in seven hours!”

Seven hours.

Wherever he was going, he had a lot of time to think.


	3. Bubble Buddies

Chapter Three

 

Beach City. Why did Lapis tell him to go there? It must have been important. She'd meet him there. But what if she didn’t? She had a cracked gem. What if those monster things killed her? What if Steven never saw her again, and the last time they were together, he’d scared her. 

Why had he scared her so badly? It had to be his shield. Did she not want him to be a gem? She seemed to miss homeworld so much, he thought she’d want another gem around. She knew he was a gem, she just thought he might not have powers. Was it his powers that scared her? 

_ Why? _

Steven looked down at his bag. He considered pulling out his ukulele, but then that might cause food to spill on the bus floor. The other kids on the bus were either reading or playing on their phones. And eventually Steven got tired of naming the clouds and humming. So he closed his eyes, leaned against his backpack, and fell asleep. 

 

He woke up when the driver started shouting. “The bus arrives in five minutes! Pick up all your belongings and watch your step as you exit!”

Steven blinked sleep away from his eyes and stretched, yawning. He hadn’t slept well. He couldn’t remember his dream, but he remembered it being very frightening. He checked his backpack to make sure everything was still there, and slowly put it on. The bus started to slow to a stop, and Steven glanced outside. It was definitely named Beach City for a reason- they were driving by the prettiest beach he’d ever seen. The waves gently lapped against the sand, with a deep blue color.  _ Lapis would love it here! _ Steven thought. Then something struck him- nobody was  _ on  _ the beach. 

As the bus reached the stop, Steven slowly got off, following everyone else. The bus pulled away, and he looked around. He was on what looked like a boardwalk, and started to walk down the street, then stopped. Lapis said not to talk to anyone, and there would definitely be people in town. Where wasn’t there people? 

So Steven turned around and walked towards the beach. 

 

The beach was completely abandoned. Steven wasn’t even sure why; it was pretty, there were no signs saying it was off-season, he didn’t see anything dangerous. 

He walked close to what looked like the bottom of a cliff, looking for a ledge he could hide in until Lapis found him. Eventually he found a hole big enough for him to squeeze into, and he managed to make it in. It was dark and a little wet, but it seemed far enough away from the waves to be safe, and it was close enough to the water that Lapis would think to look for him there. 

So he hid in there, waiting. He unpacked his bag, ate some food, played his ukulele and hummed his song. He still didn’t know the words, but the tune was starting to come to him. He got tired of that song, and tried another. He decided to make a new song, something to show Lapis when she came for him. 

_ She was trapped in a mirror, and it couldn’t be clearer, she wanted to find her place, somewhere in space.  _

Yeah, that was a nice rhyme. That could work. 

_ And now she’s out there fighting to protect me, But she’ll find me here, wait and see.  _

Yeah, she was going to be here soon. She might even come before the end of the song!

_ Lapis Lazuli, you’ll find me on the edge of Beach City, Lapis Lazuli, you might be sad but I know you still love me.  _

He looked up. Not yet. Oh well. She’d find him. She was just taken her time. 

 

The next morning, Steven woke up and started digging through his bag. The food he’d picked out probably wouldn’t last very long, and at some point he’d need a way to bathe. However, after a few minutes, he heard… was that footsteps? He peered out of the rock to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. 

That was when he saw her. 

He couldn’t believe his eyes at first- someone was on the beach. Nobody had shown up on the beach since Steven had, but there was a girl, about his age, with dark hair and bright red glasses, reading a book. He wondered if he should approach her, ask her what she was doing, when he saw something above her head. A rock from part of the cliff was about to fall. But it wouldn’t for a while, right? 

That’s when the ground shook. The rock began to fall. And all Steven could think of was the ground shaking as the large orange animal had charged him. 

So he ran, towards the girl on the beach. “Run!” he yelled, and threw his arms out. 

And as he pushed the girl out of the way of the falling rock, a pink bubble surrounded them. 

The two kids fell down, and looked at each other. “Hi!” Steven smiled. “I’m Steven!”

The girl adjusted her glasses, then stood. “Connie.”

She looked around, putting her hand on the bubble. “What’s this?”

“Oh, um, I don’t know. I’m magic. Or half-magic. I think? I’m not sure. I’m a gem. And I didn’t know I had powers until a few days ago. Lapis thinks that I used to be a full gem but became human somehow. Hi.”

Connie nodded. “So, how do you make the bubble… stop?” 

Steven laughed. “I… I don’t know. But it’ll be okay! We just have to stay here, and my mo- Lapis will come get us.”

“Lapis?”

“Lapis Lazuli. She raised me. Well, kinda. I guess. We got separated but she said to meet her here. So long as we stay on the beach, we’ll be fine.”

Connie looked at him. “Will she be here soon?”

“Oh, yeah! Totally! We’ll be out of here in no time!”

 

“Really soon.” Steven repeated as he and Connie moved across the ocean floor. 

“Okay, so maybe trying to pop the bubble by standing on a Rollercoaster track wasn’t such a great idea.” Steven admitted. “But don’t worry, we’ll be alright! Lapis loves water, she’ll definitely find us in here!”

“If you say so.” Connie muttered, glancing around at the fish. 

Suddenly, a huge shadow swam over them. Connie and Steven both gasped as a huge worm swam over them. Steven froze up as Connie covered her head, watching the worm. However, the worm didn’t seem to care about them, and started to eat some bright objects. “Oh, it doesn’t want us.” Steven muttered. “It just wants those shiny things.”

Suddenly, the worm turned towards them. It growled, and dove into the ground, causing a crack to open up in the ground, which the Bubble fell into. The two kids tumbled, and Steven landed on top of Connie. “Sorry!” he said. “This, um, this looks bad… but it’s okay!”

“It’s  _ not  _ okay!” Connie yelled, shocking Steven into silence. “You keep saying that, but you don’t know what you’re doing! And now we’re going to suffocate or starve at the bottom of the ocean, and only my parents will notice because no one else cares about me!”

“Huh?” that seemed odd to Steven. Connie was so cool- how could nobody want to hang out with her?

Connie sat down and hugged her knees, starting to cry. “I’m gonna disappear without ever making a single friend.”

Steven looked over at Connie, and sat down next to her. “W-we can be friends.” he said quietly. Connie looked up with surprise. “I mean, I haven’t hung around people long enough to have friends since I was little, except for Lapis, so I might not be very good at it, but I can try!”

Connie let out a little laugh. “I’m not very good at friends either.”

“We can learn together.” Steven smiled. 

Connie smiled back. “Yeah. Together.”

That’s when the bubble popped. 

Both managed to take in air before it was gone, but they were still at the bottom of the sea. Steven grabbed Connie’s hand, and the two managed to swim upwards, bursting out of the water. They swam to shore, looked at each other, and started laughing. 

Steven glanced back at the water. “The worm’s still down there.”

Connie glanced down at him. “Yeah. We should try to get it out, it digging through the sea floor is probably what’s been causing the earthquakes all day.”

Steven glanced down into the ocean, thinking. “Do you have a glowstick?”

 


	4. The Temple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I begin, I'd like to thank everyone so much for the comments and kudos! This site is really nice and welcoming, it's encouraged me to write more in the last week than I've been motivated to write in the past year! Thanks, everyone!

Chapter Four

 

“What are we doing with this again?” Connie asked, handing him a glowstick she’d brought back from the General Store. 

Steven looked up, smiling, and held the glowstick over the water. “Well, the worm is attracted to shiny things. So I’m gonna have it chase me until I can tie it up somewhere.”

“That could go wrong in so many ways.” Connie said. 

Steven shrugged. “Well, it’s the first plan I thought of, so it has to be the best, right?”

“Um…” Connie trailed off when a shadow started growing under the waves. 

“Uh, yeah, you should probably go before it gets here.” Steven said. 

“That’d probably be-” Connie started, but both of them shut up when the worm leapt out of the water. 

“Um… nice giant worm.” Steven stared backing away. 

“There’s an pier on the other side of the cliff.” Connie whispered. “I say we run it around the support beams.”

“Good plan.” Steven said, and the two of them took off running. 

The worm followed them, surprisingly fast on the sand, roaring. Steven tried to focus on Connie next to him, focus on getting to the support beams, and not focus on the roaring of the monster that reminded him of his experience the day before. 

The worm followed, and Steven and Connie turned a corner, and spotted the pier. “That way!” Connie clarified, and followed Steven as he went in, sliding through pillars in a zigzag. The worm chased them, keeping its focus on the glowstick.

Finally, Steven thought the Worm was all tied up, and dragged Connie out into the open, as the worm snapped to its senses and realized what was happening. It roared again and tried to pull itself out, but it was stuck tight. As it struggled, Steven and Connie watched it and grabbed each others’ hands. 

The worm pulled itself farther, and the pillars snapped. The pier collapsed in on itself, and the worm disappeared in a cloud of dust. 

“What?” Steven asked, running in towards the wreckage, and digging through it. “Where did it go?”

“Do monsters do that?” Connie asked. “I mean, have you run into them before?”

“Um, once. It…” Steven paused after he managed to uncover a gem, which he held carefully. “A gem.”

“Was that worm a gem like you and your Lapis?” Connie asked. 

“Er, well,” Steven started to stutter as he realized he had no idea. “I guess… that means it could reform, which wouldn’t work well.”

“Reform?”

“Gems can do this thing where when we die, we go into our gems to reform our bodies, so we don’t  _ really _ die. But if the worm reforms, it’s not going to be very happy.”

“Can you trap it?” Connie asked. “So that it doesn’t have room to reform?”

“What could I trap it in?” Steven asked. The two of them looked at each other, then nodded. Steven held the gem in his hands and tried to concentrate. How had he created the bubble to begin with? He’d been worried about the girl on the beach, worried that something was going to hurt her. He was worried that the worm was going to hurt him and his new friend, too. 

A small pink bubble encased the gem. Steven stared down at it, then put it on the ground. He looked for a second, then cheered. “Whoo! I did it!”

“We’re gonna have to be careful not to break it.” Connie said, picking it up. “Where are you staying?”

“Um…” Steven paused, thinking. “Well, until Lapis gets here, I found a cave in the side of the cliff.”

“A cave?” Connie asked, looking horrified. “You’re going to live in a  _ cave _ ?”

“Um, yeah?” Steven nodded. 

“No, no. That’s completely unsanitary, Steven. How are you going to get food?”

“Well, I figured Lapis would be right back, and I have a bit stored up.” Steven shrugged. 

“Okay, first thing’s first, we’ve gotta find you somewhere to stay.” Connie said, looking up. “There’s a house or something at the top of the cliff, and I’ve never seen anyone go in. I’m pretty sure it’s abandoned. Let’s start there.”

“Great! Let me get my stuff, I’ll meet you up there!”

“Um, okay…” Connie said as Steven ran off to find his bag, carrying a fragile bubble along with him. 

 

Steven ran up the cliff, catching up with Connie halfway. She was sitting in the grass, watching him run up. She stood when he arrived, frowning. “Is that all your stuff?”

Steven looked over his shoulder at the dirty cheeseburger backpack, then down at the bubbled gem. “Um, yeah, I guess.”

Connie sighed and grabbed his hand, leading him up the hill. Steven started to hum to himself, looking down at the flowers growing beneath his feet. 

“Whoa.” Connie muttered. 

Steven looked up, freezing. How had he not seen  _ that _ before?

Above them was a small beach house, and above that was a large figure carved into the cliff. It was a huge woman, with several arms and long hair, and a mask above her head. A lighthouse was perched at the top. Steven had always been on the side of the cliff, so he couldn’t see it before, but how had he not noticed the hair, or the extended arm? Was he really not that observant?

“Steven?” Connie asked, looking over at him. Steven blinked, and realized he was clenching and unclenching his hands. He looked over at her, as she continued, “You looked… spaced out for a second.”

“I’m fine.” Steven squinted up at the giant woman above them, trying to make out her form in the dark. He thought he saw something on her chest. “Is that a gem?” he asked, then noticing she had a similar mark on her head. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never gone this far into the beach before, and nobody ever talks about it. It could be.” Connie looked curiously at Steven. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Y-Yeah.” Steven nodded. “Let’s keep going.”

Even as they walked, Steven couldn’t tear his eyes away from the giant woman- was she a gem? Why was there a statue of a gem on the beach? Was she why Lapis told Steven to go there?

They finally made it to the house. Steven thought it was polite to knock, but after nobody answered, he pushed the door open. It was definitely unlocked, and he and Connie walked in. It was dark, but very clean. “Maybe someone does live here.” Connie thought aloud, and walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. There was food inside, but it was starting to smell. “Well, they haven’t been here in a while. Hang on… the fridge is working. There’s electricity here.” Connie flipped a light switch, and it indeed turned on. “Whoa! Steven, did you-”

Connie looked up at Steven, and stopped herself. Steven had walked up the stairs to what looked like a child’s bedroom. There was a simple bed, several books on astronomy shelved above it, and a very old television set. Steven was feeling the fabric of the bed, a blank look in his eyes. He moved to the foot of the bed, and opened a chest. Inside were several small stuffed animals, that were starting to fall apart from age. He picked up a bear and looked at it, holding it gently and staring almost blankly at it. Something about the way the fabric felt in his hands, the way his face looked reflected on its glasses, seemed… vaguely familiar. 

“Steven?”

Steven looked down at Connie, once again snapping back to reality. “Sorry. It’s just… this is someone’s house, we probably shouldn’t be here.”

“They left lots of old food in the fridge, and the countertops are gathering dust. They’ve been gone for a while.” Connie shrugged. “If someone does come back, you can just explain why you were here. They’ll probably be okay with it- I mean, they left the front door unlocked.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Steven trailed off, putting the bear back in the toy chest and slowly closing the lid. He looked back at Connie. “Are you sure I can’t stay with you?”

“My parents wouldn’t like that.” Connie shook her head. 

Steven started fiddling with something in his pocket. “Connie?”

“Hm?”

“Why aren’t there any people on the beach?”

Connie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just come down to read. Nobody stops me.”

“You’d think… it’s such a pretty beach… Anyway…” Steven stopped and walked down to where Connie was, holding out the glowstick, which he had bent and connected into a bracelet. “Here!”

“What’s this for?” Connie giggled, taking the bracelet.

“So you won’t forget me.” Steven smiled. 

Connie laughed, as she put the bracelet on. “I’ll come see you tomorrow, Steven.”

“Well, yeah, but Lapis will probably come soon.” Connie looked concerned, so Steven said, “But, um, I guess if she comes, we can wait a little while before leaving.”

Connie smiled. “Yeah. Can’t have my new friend leaving without a goodbye.”

Steven grinned. “Yeah!” he glanced out the window. “It’s, uh, getting late.”

“Yeah, my parents might get worried if I stay out later.” Connie shrugged, then opened the door to leave. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Steven called.

“Yeah, tomorrow.” Connie waved goodbye, the glowstick bracelet shining against the dark sky.

The door closed, and Steven was alone again.

He spread out his sleeping bag on the floor- he didn’t feel comfortable just sleeping on someone’s bed- and started humming to himself, staring up at the ceiling and thinking. Lapis probably didn’t have money, she probably couldn’t take a bus. Was she going to walk to Beach City? How long would that take? If her gem wasn’t cracked, she could fly, but she was stuck walking until she could figure out how to fix that.

Still, she’d be there soon. She always came back for him.

He hummed the Mystery Song to himself until he fell asleep.


	5. In Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this is so short. I've been pretty busy lately. I'd also like to note that I'm going to publish the playlist I made for this fic on 8tracks. It's basically what I listen to while brainstorming Beach Summer Fun Buddies interactions. I'll put the link in the Chapter Notes of the next chapter. Thanks again for being so great! :)

Chapter Five

 

_ “Are you sure you’ll be okay, Steven?” _

_ Steven looked up at the ginger behind the counter at the Ice Cream Store. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I live really close to here.” _

_ “There’s a lot of thunder.”  _

_ Steven looked down so that she wouldn’t see the tinge of fear in his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m seven, I’m basic’ly a grown-up.” _

_ The girl laughed, and Steven smiled nervously, slid the Cookie Cat pack into his pocket and left. He pulled his hood over his head and ran, jumping when thunder roared across the city. He ran quickly to the abandoned barn on the edge of town that he and Lapis had taken up residence in, assuming that he’d be safe there. A thunderclap came again, and he let out a little yell. He burst in the door, calling for Lapis. There was no response. He yelled again. “Lapis!” _

_ Another thunderclap sounded, and Steven heard a shriek come from the corner of the loft, and a splash of water. Steven gasped and climbed up the ladder into the loft. “Lapis?” _

_ The blue gem was huddled in the corner, hugging her knees and staring at the wall. “Lapis are you okay?” _

_ “They’re all over,  _ they’re all over! _ ” Lapis yelled, moving her hands to cover her ears. “Go away!  _ Go away! _ ” _

_ “Lapis, it’s me, Steven!” Steven moved into hug Lapis, but that was the wrong thing to do. _

_ “ _ I’M NOT FIGHTING YOU! _ ” Lapis screamed, whipping around, and sending Steven flying into the wall. There was silence as Lapis calmed down long enough to realize what she’d done, and Steven started crying. _

_ “Steven, I’m sorry!” Lapis yelled, immediately running over to her crying son. “I’m so sorry, I thought…”  _

_ “It hurts!” Steven cried, and Lapis reached out and hugged him to her.  _

_ “I know, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Steven halted his sobs when he felt water fall onto his face.  _ Was Lapis crying?

_ “I’m so sorry, Steven, I heard loud noises and it… it was like being back  _ there. _ ” _

_ “Where?” Steven choked out, not able to completely stop crying. _

_ “A horrible place, Steven. A horrible, horrible, place, and I hope you  _ never _ have to see it.” Lapis started crying again. Thunder sounded again, and Lapis gasped and pulled Steven closer to her. _

_ “I-it’s okay, Lapis.” Steven said, leaning against her. “I read ‘bout this. It’s not as scary as it sounds. Clouds are just water.” _

_ “Water?” Lapis asked, sounding distant. _

_ “Yeah, lots of water built up into the sky.” Steven started to explain the thunder, distracting himself from the loud thunder outside. The cookie cat in his pocket was probably melting, but he didn’t care. He hugged Lapis and talked about thunder, and Lapis hugged him, pulling him in tighter every time she heard thunder, and loosening as he kept talking. Steven eventually calmed himself down, and yawned.  _

_ Lapis let out a soft giggle. “Are you tired, Steven?” _

_ Steven shook his head. “No. I gotta tell you why lightnin’ happens.”  _

_ Lapis laughed, picking Steven up and cradling him into her arms, leaning against the barn wall. “I think I’ll be okay for tonight. So long as you’re still here with me, you can remind me that I’m safe now.” _

_ Steven nodded drearily. “You’re with me. And now we can protect each other.” _

_ Lapis nodded, singing a soft lullaby to Steven. She’d heard it somewhere on the radio when he’d dragged her into the Ice Cream place, and thought it was quiet enough to make Steven fall asleep. She was right. _

“Well I’ve been afraid of changing, cause I’ve built my life around you. But time makes you bolder, and children get older, and I’m getting older, too.”

_ Thunder sounded, and Lapis kept thinking of the battlefield, the horrible images flashing before her. But she held Steven tight in her arms, repeated to herself what he’d told her about clouds and thunder, and while it didn’t stop the awful memories, it gave her a grounding. She had to stay there. For Steven. _

_ She was going to do it for him. _

 

_ Steven blinked, looking up. He’d almost forgotten that night. He’d remembered it so vividly- what was going on? _

_ He looked up. He was in a grassy field, with a crumbling building in front of him. A goat scampered across the fields, and there was a gentle breeze blowing. _

_ In front of him was a white figure, with pink hair. She smiled down at him. “Steven! Are you coming back soon?” _

_ “Coming back where?” Steven asked as the figure looked down at him, and Steven saw a white gem on her forehead.  _

_ Suddenly, the sky went dark. The land started to crumble, and all thoughts of the white gem vanished from his mind. Steven yelled, and heard a voice calling out… his name? _

_ “Steven, watch out!” _

_ Suddenly, there was a town burning around them. It was… it was the town Steven and Connie had run through in the bubble. He vaguely recognized the streets, watched as it caught fire. _

_ He turned around, and there was a girl behind him. She had long, flowing hair, and… purple skin? No, that had to be the lighting. She whipped around to stare at him, blue eyes wide with fear. Steven looked down and saw… a  _ gem. _ This was a gem. _

_ “Steven?” asked the gem. She blinked, then looked like she was about to cry. “I’m sorry, Steven!”  _

_ “Sorry for what? Who are you?” Steven asked. _

_ The gem blinked. “Huh?”  _

_ “You’re a dream.” Steven stated, looking her up and down. “Why do you seem… so real?” _

_ “Steven?” _

_ A building came crumbing next to him. He and the gem turned to face the threat- a giant billowing shadow. A piece of the building fell towards Steven, the gem yelled at him to look out- _

Suddenly Steven sat bolt upright in the Sleeping bag, gasping. Sweat dripped down his head, and he started to steady his breathing, running through his hair with his hands. He focused on the door, slowly calming down. He blinked carefully. That was a gem in his dream- a dream he remembered vividly. He usually didn’t remember his dreams very well. He turned around to find the bathroom and wash up- Lapis had packed him a bathroom kit, and he figured it would be smart to use it. However, he froze. Something he hadn’t noticed before was in front of him- a small, shiny platform. And behind that, a door. A door with a five-pointed star, and inside each star, a gem.

Three gems he didn’t recognize, but two he did. One was the gem from his dream, a shiny purple one, on the left. And at the top-

That was his gem.

His gem was replicated at the top of a door. 


	6. This Can't Be Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys, here's the playlist: https://8tracks.com/badwolfcipher/l-e-ro-g-e-down
> 
> Thanks again for your nice comments! They really make my day. :) This chapter might be a little slow, but I'm setting up some plot here so it'll get a little more exciting after this chapter.

Chapter Six

 

After Steven washed up in the bathroom, he glanced at a clock in there to find it was five in the morning. He left and turned again towards the door. That was definitely supposed to be his gem- it had the same cut and everything. He pulled up his shirt and glanced down at his gem, trying to see if maybe it was a mistake. Nope. It was definitely his gem.

Lapis said that he used to be a Rose Quartz. Could this gem possibly represent a different Rose Quartz? Were there gems  _ here _ ?

But Lapis said there weren’t any other gems on Earth.

Steven studied the door. There weren’t any handles. Maybe it wasn’t a door, maybe it was, like, some sort of decoration. He pushed on it, and it didn’t budge. Okay, so it was definitely a decoration. Why had he thought it was a door?

He slowly moved back to his sleeping bag, rolling it up and putting it against the wall. He started to unpack his food and put it in the fridge, trying to position it around the stuff already stored in there; Connie was right, some of it was already spoiled. 

He looked out the window, watching the sky, trying to see if Lapis was going to fly down soon. When she didn’t, he looked down to see if maybe someone was returning to the house. Maybe the beach was private property? Could someone just…  _ buy _ a beach?

Steven turned around and climbed up to the bedroom area. He found a remote resting on top of the television and turned it on, watching as an unfamiliar product was advertised with an annoying voice accompanying. He barely paid attention, instead digging his ukelele out of his bag and trying to play something relaxing. Eventually he just resorted to trying to pluck out the notes played in commercial jingles.

Had he dreamed up the purple gem? If he had, why was her gem on the wall? Had he seen the star last night and forgotten, and it got planted in his head? Why would he forget something like that?

He had too many questions. He looked up at the television as a children’s cartoon came on-  _ Crying Breakfast Friends _ ? Okay, sure. Why not?

He put his ukelele down and hugged his knees, watching the cartoon and trying to forget about the monsters he’d seen, what had been going on the last few days. Lapis would come soon.

When the show cut to commercials again, he looked through the toy chest again. He’d sort-of spaced out the last time he’d opened it, but he’d managed to spot something interesting- there it was! He pulled out a sparkly pencil and pad of paper. He hoped that whoever lived in this house didn’t mind him using it. Heck, he hoped they didn’t mind him using their  _ house _ . He started to draw; he wasn’t very good, but it might help him for future reference. He draw what he remembered of the purple gem- her bangs over one eye, her shoulder strap falling, and of course the bright gem on her chest. Maybe Lapis knew what gem she was. Maybe she could explain to him why he’d dreamed about her.

Steven suddenly froze up as someone knocked on the door.

He turned the power off on the television, and waited. If it was the house owners, they’d have a key. Who was there?

They knocked again, and Steven crawled under the bed, trying to keep himself as small as possible. Was it Connie? She’d announce herself, right? Or just… walk in? 

After another ten minutes, Steven crawled out again and looked at the door. Nobody was in the window, so he walked over and opened the door. No-one was there, but a note was left on the ground, a small rock placed over it to keep it from blowing away-  _ Will Be Back in Town Wednesday. _ It wasn’t signed. Whoever it was, he must know the house’s owners well, as he just left the note there. Steven decided to leave it outside - what harm would it do?

Steven watched TV for a bit longer, still trying to draw the purple gem. He didn’t remember what her shoes looked like, so he just gave her big boots- those were the easiest to draw. He tried coloring it with some crayons he found too, which were completely unused. What kind of kid didn’t use crayons? Technically he’d never  _ had _ any, but he’d borrowed some from the kids’ sections of the libraries in some towns. And eventually returned them… the ones he didn’t give to Lapis, anyway. She liked the shades of blue, and would sometimes draw with him. Her art was about as good as his, but she wouldn’t draw people, just the sea. And then she’d put the blue crayons somewhere and Steven didn’t want to make her upset by asking for them back.

He colored the purple gem’s hair a lighter shade than her skin, but he couldn’t remember the exact colors. He made her gem the darkest, and made her eyes a dark blue. Her shirt was a light purple, and her pants were nearly black. He left her boots white, which was mostly because he didn’t know the color, but it also looked right. He drew her gem again again up in the corner, using the wall decoration as reference. He liked how he drew her, so he took the page out and put it aside. He started to draw Lapis then, putting a lot more detail into it. He remembered the length of her ribbon, the way her skirt waved, and drew the reflection of the ocean in her eyes. He also drew her gem in the corner, and picked up a black crayon to color the cracks in her gem, but paused. He eventually just put the crayon away, deciding to leave her gem. He hoped someday her gem would be better.

He also drew a bit of the ocean behind Lapis, but gave up before he got to the sand. The television show was getting boring, so he turned it off and put the crayons and paper away. He rolled up his drawings and put them in his bag, for later. He made lunch, and then started playing his ukelele again. He stopped when he heard footsteps come up the stairs to the house, wondering if he should hide again. He breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened and Connie walked in, a red bag slung over her shoulder, glancing behind her.

“Who left the note?” she asked. 

“I dunno.” Steven said, and ran up and gave Connie a hug. “Hi!”

Connie seemed surprised, and laughed a little, giving Steven a hug back. “I’ve only been gone a day.” 

“It felt like  _ forever _ . You need to come see this!” Steven pulled away and dragged Connie over to the wall hanging. Connie looked at it. “Um, it’s very pretty, Steven.”

“Yeah, but look!” Steven pulled up his shirt to show his gem, and then pointed at the pink replica on top. 

Connie looked back and forth, confused. “Why is your gem-”

“On the wall? I don’t know! But look what else!” Steven ran over to his bag, pulled out the picture of the purple gem, and showed it to her. “I had a weird dream last night about Beach City on fire and  _ this _ gem was in it, and her gem is on the door!”

“Is that Lapis’s gem?” Connie asked, gesturing to a blue gem in the corner of the star. 

Steven pulled out his picture of Lapis and showed her. “No, her gem is shaped like a teardrop, and it doesn’t have the triangle cut.” 

Connie nodded. “Are these other gems?”

“I don’t know. Lapis said that there weren’t any other gems on Earth.”

“Maybe they were here years ago, when the house was built.” Connie suggested. “And the gem you used to be was also here then. What was their name again?”

“Rose Quartz.” Steven said. “That’s what Lapis called her, but she didn’t like talking about her much.”

“Rose Quartz.” Connie dug through her bag, and pulled out a large book. Steven’s eyes brightened up, staring in excitement at the dark cover. Connie glanced up at him and smiled, then flipped through the book. 

Steven looked at the pages, then back at Connie. “Are those gems?” he asked.

“Yeah, I found a gemology book in my Dad’s office this morning.” Connie smiled, flipping to a page. “Here!”

She slid down against the sink to sit down, and Steven sat next to her, looking down at the pages as Connie read to him. “Rose Quartz, a pink stone. It represents love, healing, compassion and peace.”

“Cool!” Steven read through the page on the stone, which listed mostly scientific properties. He looked back up at Connie. “You think that the Gems are like gems?”

“Um, I guess?” Connie laughed. “You are  _ gems _ .”

“Do Lapis!”

Connie flipped a couple pages back, until Steven saw the familiar blue of her gem, though it looked very different, and had gold specks on it.

“Would you like to use the book, Steven?” Connie asked.

“Yes!” Steven grabbed the book and started reading, eventually turning to the front of the book and reading through all the gems. As he did, Connie went to the TV and started flipping through channels, occasionally glancing back to see him pouring through the book. He definitely enjoyed that book. Connie wondered if her dad would notice if she just left it with him.

Steven, for his part, was enjoying himself. He’d seen gemology books in the library on occasion, but they’d been too high on the shelf to reach, and whenever he talked the Librarians they’d tell him that he should “wait until he was older” to read those books. Well, now he was older! 

“Connie, this book is  _ so cool _ !” Steven said, looking up. “I wonder if all of these things are similar to the Gems’ personalities. Do you think Peridots are ‘spiritual and fair’? Do you think the scientific properties have anything to do wi- Connie, what’s wrong?”

Connie had stopped flipping through channels, instead staring intently at the screen. Steven slowly joined her, and looked at the channel. It was the news, and it had just cut to a destroyed city.

“-thousands injured as an unknown creature rampaged through the city, as seen through this amateur recording,” the newscaster’s voiceover declared, and a video from someone’s phone was played over the screen. Steven gasped as what looked like a giant bird flew through, cutting down buildings with its wings. “Scientists are still baffled at the existence of this creature.”

“Wait!” Steven yelled, pointing at the screen. The bird had flown backwards, cawing, as a jet of water hit it in the stomach. The phone camera panned over, to see Lapis standing on the edge of the street, holding her hands out. People ran around her as she stepped towards the bird, yelling something.

“Is that-” Connie asked.

“Lapis.” Steven grinned, as the blue gem started hitting the beast again with water. The newscaster read, “A mysterious blue woman was seen attacking the beast with water, leading some to believe this may have been an act. However, the hundreds of injured people begs to differ.”

Suddenly, the phone recording cut. “No!” Steven cried, as the newscaster instead turned to a story about environmental protests. “That can’t be  _ it _ !”

“Don’t worry, Steven.” Connie muttered, pulling out her phone and holding up the remote to mute the TV. “The ‘amateur recorder’ probably put it on TubeTube. Let’s look.”

Steven leaned next to her, fiddling with his shirt as Connie loaded up the TubeTube app. The featured video was indeed labelled “Big Bird Attacks Major City” with the date next to it. Connie clicked, and an ad for a restaurant came up.

“Come  _ on _ !” Steven and Connie yelled as they saw the ad. The thirty seconds seemed to go forever, until the video finally started. They watched the same thing the news had shown, only it did extend longer. Lapis was indeed fighting the bird, hitting it with water and slamming it into a buildings. The bird kept diving at her, but she managed to roll away. She yelled something again, the words still indistinguishable. The recorder dove under a canopy to avoid falling debris, and the blur of the phone moving blocked the image for a bit. Suddenly, once it was in focus again, Steven gaped to see Lapis under the bird’s claws, the bird roaring at her in fury.

“Get up!” he yelled. “Lapis, get  _ up _ !” 

Suddenly, a giant rock hit the bird square in the chest, sending it catapulting into a crumbled building. The phone camera panned towards the source of the rock, and Steven and Connie both let out gasps.

Standing there, with a long whip in hand, was the purple gem.

She also yelled something, and spun into a ball, rolling at the bird. They fell backwards, out of view of the phone. The camera moved towards where Lapis had been, to find her gone. It kept panning, and they saw her running far away from where the purple gem and bird were going. “Where’s she going?” Connie asked.

The cameraperson ran after her, yelling things like, “Wait! Excuse me!”

Lapis tripped over something and fell over, so the cameraperson caught up. Lapis looked up at them with a glare. “Who are you?” they asked.

In response, Lapis raised a hand, and the person was shot backwards by a stream of water. When they got up, Lapis was gone.

The video turned off, and Connie and Steven looked at each other.

“The purple gem’s real.” Steven said first. 

“Lapis doesn’t seem to want to be around her.” Connie inferred.

“Maybe she just wanted to move on, now that she knew the monster was taken care of.” Steven thought aloud. “She’s probably still trying to get here.”

Connie fell silent, staring at the screen. Suddenly, the phone lit up, and a simple ringtone rang, as the contact labelled “Mom” popped up, trying to call. Connie had a panicked look in her eyes, turning to Steven. “Don’t make  _ any _ noise!” she said, and pressed the answer button.

Steven kept quiet as Connie nervously held the phone up to her ear. “Hi!” she paused as her Mom spoke into the phone. “I’m at the Library… uh, no, I haven’t heard… third this week? Really? … Yes ma’am… no, I can walk… okay. Bye!” she hung up. “My mom saw the news. She wants me to come home.”

“Third this week?” Steven asked.

“Uh, yeah. Apparently these monsters aren’t being very subtle in their attacks.” Connie shrugged. “She thinks they’re headed this way and wants me to stay home today. Sorry, Steven, I gotta go.”

“Aw, but-” Steven sighed. “There’s a library here?”

“Um, yeah.”

Steven thought for a second. He desperately wanted to go get some books, but Lapis said not to talk to anyone, and she might be back soon, now that she was headed his way. “Nevermind. You’re the best friend  _ ever _ !” Steven grinned, giving Connie another hug.

Connie laughed and hugged him back. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow!” Steven waved as Connie ran out, grabbing her bag and closing the door behind her. 

Steven watched her go, the smile draining from his face. He slid down to the floor and hugged his knees, biting his lip. Lapis was fighting monsters.  _ Monsters. _ She’d been rescued by him the first time, and by the purple gem the last. What happened if she couldn’t be saved? She could have to retreat into her gem; would she be able to do that with a cracked gem? What if… what if she was  _ shattered _ ?

Steven thought back to the purple gem. When he’d seen her in his dream, she’d seemed surprised to see him there. Maybe it had been her dream, too. What if he could talk to her again?

Now with a plan in mind, Steven pulled out his sleeping bag, crawled into it, and tried to sleep.

 

Connie walked along the beach, holding her bag and humming to herself. She was a little worried about Steven- he seemed to be very on edge after that video- but if she came home late she’d be grounded for life. She walked into town, looking around at the buildings. A few people were milling about, but Connie ignored them. Something, inbetween two buildings, had caught her eye. 

She started towards the buildings, slowly walking towards it. She turned the corner, and was surprised to see only an overturned trashcan on the ground. As she walked towards it, she felt a cold hand clamp over her mouth. 

Connie immediately ducked, kicked, and tried to yell, but the stranger managed to keep her still and drag her farther into the alley. Connie kicked again and the grip loosened, and Connie fell into the trashcan. She turned around to throw a punch, and the stranger caught her arm. They were still obscured by shadow, but Connie could see her eyes- her bright blue eyes, with a dark twinkle in them. Those eyes… those eyes were  _ terrifying _ . 

“Ah, just another human.” the stranger sighed with a slightly feminine voice. “Too bad there are so many of you in this town. Here’s a tip, don’t sneak up on somebody you don’t understand.”

She held up an arm, which was decorated with a green, metallic wristcuff. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” she smirked, “This will definitely hurt a lot, but then you won’t remember it, and we’ll both stay very safe today.”

 

Connie walked out of the alley, confused. Why was the sky a little darker? She checked her phone. Huh. She’d checked it before she was leaving the beach, at 6:30. How was it already 6:40? 

Huh. Too bad there was only a trashcan in the alley. If there’d been something interesting, she’d have something to tell Steven.


	7. Come Back Soon

Chapter Seven

 

Why was falling asleep so  _ hard _ ?

Steven groaned after an hour went by, and he was still wide awake. Why couldn’t he just make his body do things?

He tried changing clothes, humming to himself, putting a pillow over his head to stifle the light, but it didn’t work. Eventually, he decided he needed to know what was going on. He put his normal clothes back on, and dug through the bottom of the largest pocket in the backpack, pulling out a coat. He put it on and pulled the hood over his head. It was going to be unbearably hot, but it effectively shielded his face; hopefully nobody would talk to him then. 

He slid out of the house, and broke into a run. He headed into town, keeping to the sidewalk, glancing around him. There weren’t very many people, but Steven still stayed close to the buildings. Eventually, he found the Library, and ran in. He ran past the checkout, and right into the kids’ section. In most libraries he went to, computers were available for free in the kids’ section, and he was happy to find he was right. A computer was open, and he ran on, to see the browser was open. He went to the news section, and found an article about the bird attack. It barely mentioned Lapis or the Purple Gem- that was strange. They were just as unusual as the bird, weren’t they?

He found a link to the Tubetube video, and managed to get on. He let out a yell as a frowny face came up, with the words “This website is blocked for younger children. Sorry!” underneath it.

“Do you need any help?” a voice asked behind him. Steven turned around to see an older librarian. He stayed silent for a minute, considering. The librarian smiled and repeated his question. 

Steven eventually responded. “Yes, sir. The internet’s out at our house and I’d like to watch this video.”

The librarian looked at the URL. “I’m afraid that website’s blocked for younger users.”

Steven put on his best sad face. “But sir, my Mom was in this city, I want to make sure she’s okay! I’m thirteen, I can handle it.”

The librarian considered, the smiled. He typed something into a new tab, and the TubeTube page started to load. He smiled and put a finger on his lips. “It’ll only work for ten minutes. Don’t tell the other kids.”

Steven thanked him and watched as he left, then paused the video. He didn’t want the audio to get too distracting to other people in the library. He started scrolling through the comments, looking for anything like “I’ve seen that blue gem around somewhere!” It didn’t look like it; most people were talking about the bird or the injured people in the attack- why didn’t anyone mention Lapis? Steven scrolled back to the top and shifted it to newest comments. Finally, someone had a comment asking why nobody mentioned the different-colored women fighting the monster. It had been posted about five minutes before. He scrolled farther, but again nothing was said. He refreshed the page and scrolled down, then froze when he saw the previous comment had been deleted. 

Why? Where had it gone? He refreshed the page a few more times, but it was still gone. Getting desperate, he started typing out an anonymous comment. “Lapis, please come get me. -SL” He sent it, then thought again. He wanted to contact the purple gem- but how? Could he send it without drawing suspicion? Hesitating, he typed, “Violet, where are you?”

He sent it, then searched a few more news sites, but again, there were no articles on the gems. He searched about the attack again, and scrolled through the news pages. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Did that say  _ Beach City? _

A blog called “Keep Beach City Weird” came up, with a blurry photo circling the bird, Lapis, and the Purple gem, as if whoever was looking at the picture wouldn’t immediately see them. The article was written in a slight hysteria, talking about “polymorphic sentience” and “snake people”. Steven scrolled through, eventually finding a paragraph that interested him. 

_ But the thing is, I am the only one talking about the Polymorphs. Why? Is it because, like always, I am the only one brave enough to seek the truth? No, I do not believe so. I believe the government is covering up their existence. People have seen them, of course, but the TubeTube comments do not discuss them at all, and the comments that do are quickly deleted, with the original users claiming that they didn’t take them down themselves. The Government is trying to hide their existence, even though we all saw them. I’m sure in a week they will have an excuse for them, which will of course be dubious at best, but I will still hold to my theories until the end.  _

The writer proceeded to discuss Snake People and mysterious pyramids, and Steven quickly realized he wasn’t going to stay on topic. He closed the browser and leaned back, closing his eyes. So there was no news on the Gems, except that the government didn’t want people to talk about them. No news on where Lapis could be. 

Steven eventually walked to the Beach House, very dejected, and walked in. He went over to the fridge to get lunch and- hang on. The spoiled food was gone. So was some of the fruit. 

Great. Now the fridge was magic, too. 

Steven tried to curl up and fall asleep again, but was unsuccessful. He tried watching TV again, but kept getting distracted. He went over to the bathtub, where he was currently keeping the bubbled worm, to make sure it was still there, and sat in the corner with his eyes closed, practicing making bubbles around him. He started to get the hang of it, then tried to summon the Pink Shield. Which, of course, didn’t work. Why was magic stuff so hard? Why did magic stuff exist at all? Why couldn’t he and Lapis just live together in peace?

He curled up, hugging his knees, and trying to make a bubble again. He focused again on that feeling he had when Connie was in trouble, that panic of wanting to save someone, and after a minute or two, a pink bubble surrounded him. 

Well, he’d have something to show Lapis if she ever showed up. 

 

_ Red. Everything was red. Fire surrounded him, burning out the houses and towns. And a red gem ran through the fire, almost shaking the flames off. “Run!” she yelled to Steven, then went in the opposite direction, towards a giant shadow.  _

_ Steven closed his eyes and hummed, and he was somewhere else.  _


	8. Passing By

Chapter Eight

 

Steven didn’t mean to fall asleep in the bubble, but he did, and he didn’t talk to anyone as he slept. It was just a normal, forgettable dream. He vaguely remembered a white gem and pink hair, but he couldn’t place them into anywhere, and his memory of her was still slipping. He woke up and made himself more food, then turned on the TV to the news channel. They weren’t talking about any more monster attacks, so he turned on a cartoon channel. He waited for Connie to come, so he’d have someone to talk to. When he eventually heard someone go up the steps, he turned off the TV and ran down to see her. 

She opened the door, her hair pulled up into a ponytail. “Steven! I brought you something!”

Steven stopped, confused. “You did?”

Connie nodded eagerly. “I thought you would like  _ this _ !”

She pulled out a book with a girl and a bird on the cover, her face lit up. Steven immediately cheered, “BOOKS!”

“I got some extras last Christmas from my Uncle, and I figured, I only really need  _ three  _ copies.”

That was probably a joke, but Steven was too busy staring at the book cover as Connie went on about the plot. It was about a girl with a magic animal? And she went on some sort of adventure? And the last book was going to come out soon or something?

“Let me start you on it.” Connie said, sitting down on the ground. She began reading, her voice changing tone and pitch whenever she switched characters. Steven sat down, transfixed. He’d read fiction before, but he’d been more focused on nonfiction, mostly so he would be able to explain Earth Things to Lapis and calm her down. But this book- who was he kidding, it was mostly Connie’s voice telling him a story so precious to her- was taking him to a new world, a place with different rules, different magic, and characters who seemed all too real, even by the beginning. 

Connie read for a long while, until something buzzed on her phone. She looked down and her eyes widened. “I’m gonna be late for tennis practice! I’ll see you tomorrow Steven!”

Steven nodded, now holding the pile of books Connie had given to him. Connie turned to go, but paused as she opened the door. “Steven?”

“Yeah?”

“Those monsters Lapis is fighting- the one we fought- there won’t be very many coming our way, right?”

Steven didn’t know what to say. Lapis hadn’t  _ denied _ that they were running from the monsters- in fact, it made the most sense. But maybe it was just a coincidence that they showed up when they did? Maybe Lapis could sense them, or tell when they were coming? Or were they _ hunting _ them? He didn’t know, he couldn’t figure it out. And he was way more worried than he’d show. 

“No.” he smiled. “Lapis has got this covered.”

Connie grinned. “Well, that’s good. Bye!”

Steven waved goodbye, then looked down at his books. Which one was the first one again?

 

Connie didn’t come the next day, and Steven got worried. He wondered if something bad had happened, if she didn’t want to be friends anymore. She came the following day though, and he’d tried to cover up his worry, but Connie’d seen it anyway. Why was she so smart?

So they set up a system. Connie found a Home Phone somewhere around, and wrote down both her phone number and home phone. “Call me if you need  _ anything. _ ” she instructed. “And if my parents answer, tell them that you’re Archie from school and have a question about the homework.”

Steven nodded, as Connie wrote down a few more emergency numbers, just in case. She also wrote on the back her email and address (in code, because why not?) and left it right next to the phone. 

She would come by and read with Steven. Sometimes out loud, and sometimes they would just sit and read different books together. “A couple people were asking about the kid I was running around town in a bubble with.” Connie told Steven. “I told them you were my second cousin from out of town.”

Sometimes she brought her violin, and he’d take out his ukulele and they’d play a duet. Sometimes they’d watch TV, things Connie’s parents wouldn’t let her watch. Sometimes they’d see a monster on the news, but usually Lapis or any other gems were barely mentioned. Steven still was excited every time he saw a flash of blue or water hit the rampaging monster- maybe that meant she was almost done, that she was coming for him soon. 

Almost three weeks went by. Steven drew more, hoping that whoever owned the cottage would come soon. He started going to the beach and picking up seashells for Connie and him to make into necklaces and sell, so she could buy him more food. Her parents were okay with this, strangely; Connie convinced them that it was practice for future business negotiations, though she never told them what she did with the money, telling them that she was saving it for College (which was, indeed, where she put the leftover cash). The jewelry wasn’t even that good, but apparently the people liked to “support local businesses.”

And sometimes Steven would sleep out on the beach instead of the house, hiding his stuff under the bed. And sometimes when he did that his food would be missing, or more food would be in there. He didn’t know why, only wondered if the house’s owners came back and he missed them. 

One day, he looked up at the blank space on the wall between the door and the bedroom. He felt like there was something that was supposed to be there, something he was missing. 

So he taped up his picture of Lapis. As he slept that night, he wondered when she was coming, if she was doing alright, what she was doing right then. 

 

Lapis walked through the woods, the path narrowing ahead of her. The moon glowed up ahead, fading away in the sky. It barely broke the foliage of the trees. Any normal person would be scared of the dark up ahead, the constant creaking and roars from the woods around them, the end of the path up ahead. 

But Lapis had seen much worse. 

She knew she’d pretty much blown her cover by now. Nobody would suspect her of being a “cosplayer” or “new teen phase”, they all knew her as the girl who could bend water to her will, the girl who could fight the monsters. And there were others, risen from legends that were now more obvious. They were hunting Lapis, too. But Lapis would have none of it. She knew what they were. Sure, she’d only seen the purple one, but she knew they were all there. They were going to destroy her, because they didn’t care what happened to her. Nobody did. 

Except Steven. He cared. She’d pretty much raised him, watched him grow. He was smart, he was funny, he made her forget about her past. He was strange, too, asking that she call him “he” instead of “she” and having to eat food and later expel it to stay healthy. But he was kind, and sweet, and they stuck together. And without him, the flashbacks came. The thunder came, and Lapis started to slip again, see the war unfold around her again. When she could go back to him, though, they would be alright. 

As she walked, she heard a beep next to her- a robotic beep, far more advanced than what the humans had. She turned to see a circular metallic thing, one red eye looking up at her, reflecting in her eyes, small wheels propelling it forward, stretching themselves whenever they came across something steep. It was outdated even by the time Lapis was still home. She looked down at it, then bent down to face it, keeping her face straight when she wanted nothing better than to destroy the little thing in front of her. 

“Listen to me.” she ordered, her voice steady. “I know what you are, I know what sent you, and who they want. I want you to tell them, that she’s gone. They won’t find her. But I also know something else, I know what they’ve done. And I know what they’re trying to take away from me. Tell them they  _ can’t  _ have him. He is going to stay here, on this miserable planet, until I can take him far away. I am going to keep him safe because he is the one good thing that’s left in my life. And if you so much as touch a hair on his head…” she struggled to find the words, and eventually settled on a threat she’d pieced together from human lore. “If you hurt him, hell will be an upgrade compared to what I will do to you. If I have to go around this world on my own, bubbling every monster I come across and destroying every threat that comes to us, just to keep him safe, I hope you realize that I will. And there’s one more thing I would like you to know.”

She leaned in closer to the robot now, clenching her fists and feeling a river nearby start to churn and rise. 

“I am Lapis Lazuli. And I will not let you control me.”


	9. Rose-Colored Lenses

Chapter Nine

 

_ Steven dreamed of the purple gem again.  _

_ This time, he was in a dark canyon, holes all up the walls, large gray-and-red machines littered around the floor. He walked around, feeling eerie. This place was too quiet. Too calm.  _

_ He saw her sitting on a rock, staring at the ground, shoulders sagged. He tried to approach her quietly, watching her kick the air. He was about to make a noise, when the background faded away, turning instead to a dark storage room. Some faded laughter was heard in the background, most likely from a video recording. She was sitting on a box now, very high up. Steven didn’t want to scare her, for fear he’d cause her to fall. So he sat and waited for her to turn around. The backround faded more as he waited, going from a beach to an undersea temple to a room filled with junk.  _

_ Now sitting on top of a pile of things, the purple gem still stared blankly at the floor. Steven coughed, and the gem turned around. She looked at him curiously. “You’re… you’re like, eight.” _

What. 

_ “I’m thirteen.” he replied. “Or, well, close enough. Who are you? Are you a gem?” _

_ The purple gem looked- hurt? Betrayed? No. She looked  _ ashamed _.  _

_ “Steven,” she whispered, sending a chill down his spine, “We’re sorry. We’ll find you.” _

_ “Huh?” _

_ “Steven, is she with you? Did she find you?” _

_ “Who, Lapis?” _

_ “Who the heck is Lapis?” the purple gem asked. “She’s been gone over a year, Steven, is she with you?” _

_ The purple gem looked ready to break down. When Steven showed no sign of recognition in his eyes, she leaned over and pinched her own shoulder. She vanished. The room around Steven vanished.  _

And he woke up again in his sleeping bag. 

 

“Are you okay, Steven?”

Connie had set them up a picnic on the beach, with all the food she could smuggle away. She’d even bought a donut for Steven, and already had a few seashells collected in a basket. Steven was staring blankly into the sea. He looked up, dazed. “Yeah. I was just thinking about that purple gem.”

“Do you know which gem she is?” Connie questioned, thinking back to the gemology book she’d “accidentally” left at the beach house. 

“No idea. I’ve just been calling her Violet in my head.” Steven shrugged. 

Connie nodded. “Why do you think she seems to know you?”

Steven once again shrugged. 

“Hey, is this your juice box or mine?” Connie asked, looking down at the box she’d just taken a sip from. 

“Mine. Sorry.” Steven took the box and placed it at his side. “I just kinda wish this gem stuff wasn’t so  _ complicated _ . At first it was kinda fun, being a magical person with Lapis, and I’ve been practicing my bubble, but… she seemed  _ scared  _ of my shield. I don’t know why- she seemed sad that there were no gems around her. I thought that if I had powers, she’d be happy, but… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. And now I keep seeing a Purple Gem in my dreams that happened to be on TV stopping a monster from attacking a city. Do I know her? Did I just magically think her up or are we actually talking? I don’t…”

Steven stopped as he looked down. Connie had placed her hand over his.

“I know this gem stuff is really confusing for you.” Connie said, smiling. “But, well, I’m right here if you ever need me. And, I think you’re pretty cool.”

_ Connie thought he was cool.  _

“You’re the nicest, most imaginative person I’ve met. And, well, you don’t need any powers to be here with me.”

There was a moment as they looked at each other, smiling. Calm. Quiet. 

“Ow.” Connie let go of Steven’s hand, instead placing her palm on the side of her head. 

“Are you okay?” Steven asked, worried. 

“Ugh, yeah, I just think something’s wrong with my glasses.” Connie complained, pulling off her glasses to clean them. She paused, looking up at Steven, then back down at her hands. 

“What is it?” 

Connie looked up again. “I can  _ see _ .”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I can see without my glasses!”

They froze for a second, then Steven slowly turned to his hand, then, even slower, to the juicebox he and Connie had shared. 

“Oh come  _ on! _ ” he yelled. “Are you telling me I have healing  _ spit _ ? Or what, was it the hand-holding? What did I do this time?”

“What am I gonna tell my parents?” Connie worried. “What am I gonna tell my optometrist?”

“What am I doing?” Steven groaned standing up and throwing his hands into the air. “I can’t even talk to my friend without magically healing her eyesight!”

“Steven…” Connie tried to interrupt. 

“What, am I some kind of magical healer now, too? Oh great, I have even more powers I never knew about! This is just  _ perfect _ !”

“Steven!”

Steven turned to Connie, who’d stood up. “It’s alright, Steven. Don’t freak out.”

“I… I just need some time.” Steven said, looking down at the sand. “Th-thanks again for the picnic. It was really fun.”

“And, um, thanks for… healing my eyesight?” Connie said. She stood there for a few seconds, before giving Steven a side-hug. He helped pack up the food into his bag to carry back to the house, while Connie packed up the blanket. She left, running back home in order to make it on time for violin practice. 

Steven looked back at the spot where they’d just sat. And on the sand were two shiny lenses, popped out and waiting for the tide to wash them away. 

 

_ Something kept ringing in his head. He kept thinking of something, but he couldn’t place what. He sometimes thought he heard sweet singing in the distance, a song about being strong and inspiring others. A calm melody about how much the singer cared about him. It was probably Lapis, right? But that wasn’t Lapis’s singing voice.  _

_ Whoever this woman was, he missed her so much.  _

 

Steven was screaming into a pillow. 

He had, what, some sort of healing powers now? What the heck? Lapis never mentioned healing powers! Why didn’t she tell him these things might happen? Did she even know what a Rose Quartz could do?

After he finished yelling and calmed down, he sat up and started rocking back and forth. He tried to summon his shield again, but only succeeded in making himself more upset. Not only did he have these weird powers, but he couldn’t even control them! What use  _ were  _ they?

He eventually got up and flipped on the TV. No news about monster attacks, so maybe Lapis was almost done fighting them? Maybe she was finally coming?

Who was he kidding? She wasn’t coming. 

Steven felt tears start to form in his eyes. He brushed them away, trying to focus on the good things. He had Connie, and a nice place to stay, and a quiet town in case he ever wanted to go there. But Lapis had said not to talk to anyone- well, who cared? Ugh, he had to stop thinking like this. She’d told him to come to Beach City for a reason, and so that meant she knew what she was doing. 

He got up, and promptly tripped. 

He groaned and stood again, looking down at his knee. There was a small cut below it, so he tried to find some bandages. There weren’t any in the kitchen cupboard, or in the bathroom. What place didn’t have a first aid kit?

As a last resort, he opened a small door that was under the staircase. He hadn’t opened it before because, well, this was someone’s  _ house _ , they had to have some privacy. But maybe there was something in there, or at least something interesting. 

Well, he wasn’t  _ wrong. _

Steven completely froze in place, forgetting to breathe. In front of him was a nearly empty cupboard, except for the back of a picture frame. It seemed foreboding, creepy and… it seemed to be calling to him, asking him to turn it around. Steven slowly walked towards it, feeling almost like he wasn’t in control of his feet. But he wanted to- he  _ needed _ to see what was on the other side. 

He picked up the frame, slowly and carefully. He started going backwards with it, trying to bring it into the light. He started to trip again, falling back into the open room. He landed with a thud, slowly standing up again and turning around. 

The picture had landed face-up. And he was staring right at it. 

There were several things to look at in the portrait. The woman’s beautiful face, her huge amount of hair, her pretty white dress, even the star right around where her bellybutton would be. But Steven’s eyes immediately fell right around the star, right in the center. Instead of a bellybutton, she had a pink gem. 

_ His _ gem. 

This was Rose Quartz. 

Suddenly, pieces started to fall into place. Her gem was on the wall because she  _ had  _ been here. She’d known the purple gem, who knew who Steven was. And she was looking for him, because he had her gem.  _ “Is she with you?” _ she had to be talking about the Rose Quartz, right? But no, he was Rose Quartz. 

Something else entered his mind, a thought that, terrible as it was, he couldn’t push away. There had to be a reason this wasn’t true, but all the evidence seemed to point towards it. Lapis had run from the Purple Gem, implying that she knew who she was. She told him to go to Beach City, where a Gem Statue held a house that contained Gems on the wall and the painting of a gem hidden alone. 

Lapis knew that other gems were on Earth. 

She’d lied to him. 


	10. Water Witch

Chapter Ten

 

_ Lapis sat underwater, staring at the fish who passed by her without a second glance. She was surrounded by the ocean, watching sunlight ripple through the waves. It was quiet, calm. She had time to think, but yet she didn’t have to think at all.  _

_ She felt splashes above at the top of the water. That meant Steven was about done. She sighed, hesitant to leave her underwater world, but she began to swim upwards anyway. The water surged around her, begging her to stay below, stay in her Kingdom, but she kept swimming. Her gem started to ache, and she wondered how much pressure it could take before it broke even more.  _

_ She emerged, her hair wet and slicked against her head. She walked out of the water, landed on the beach, and shook, letting all the water fall from his hair. She looked down to see the ten-year-old below her try to shake the water off him, to no avail. He really was just a human. _

_ “Ready to go?” Lapis asked.  _

_ “Can we stop by the ice cream place before we go back?” Steven asked, his eyes pleading. “I’ll pay you back when we get home!” _

_ Lapis sighed, taking the small bag she’s left with Steven and looking through the dollars inside. “Yeah, we should have enough.”  _

_ “Yay!” Steven skipped along, holding her hand and dragging her along with him, talking about all the ice cream they had and how she’d be so happy when she met everyone. Lapis doubted that, catching stares at her skin and hair even as they left the beach.  _

_ They got to the Ice Cream store, and Steven excitedly started pointing everyone out, talking about what they did, what they were like, everything. Lapis bit her lip and stared ahead, pretending not to notice people give her confused glances.  _

_ “I think I’ll get a Cookie Cat bar.” Steven replied. “Do you want anything, Lapis?” _

_ “I don’t think so.” Lapis shrugged as they got in line. “But thanks for asking.” _

_ Steven looked a little disappointed, but kept talking.  _

_ Lapis heard the bell on the door behind her chime, and looked behind her to see someone enter. She immediately felt something off about him- he wasn’t looking at other people, instead watching the ice cream line, and nobody seemed to recognize him after a second glance- it was a small town, surely someone would know him? Lapis turned to Steven and moved her hand to his shoulder to quiet him. “Steven, do you know him?” Lapis asked.  _

_ Steven looked up at the guy who entered, and another man who walked through the door following him. “No. Maybe he’s new?” _

_ Lapis had a bad feeling, and pulled Steven out of line. “Go to the bathroom, and let all the sinks run.” she told him. “Then stay there until I come and get you.” _

_ “Why?” Steven asked.  _

_ “I’ll tell you after we leave.” Lapis replied, smiling to keep Steven calm. “Now go.” _

_ As Steven left, Lapis leaned against the wall, trying to make herself look small. True, she was short enough as it was, but her blue skin, blue hair, and blank, expressionless eyes definitely drew her attention.  _

_ After a few minutes, the strange men approached the front of the line. Lapis started to notice it get dark outside. More people were going home. That meant fewer people were there with the strange men.  _

_ Suddenly, they both whipped around, with the human weapons Lapis had heard about- the handheld cannons. They started yelling for people to put their hands in the air, and get down on the ground. One turned to the cashier and demanded that he open the register.  _

_ Lapis stayed standing, her anger bubbling. Sure, she may have occasionally grabbed a couple dollars from someone while they weren’t looking, but she was always careful about who she took things from- she tried to take things people wouldn’t miss, because if they noticed too much money missing, they’d definitely remember the blue woman who’d bumped into them on the street. These men were taking money in such an obvious way, and they were threatening the lives of several people. Lapis also didn’t like humans, but she wasn’t about to run around trying to kill them.  _

_ “You, get on the ground!” the second man said, pointing his cannon at Lapis.  _

_ She looked at him with an expression of disinterest, though inside she was starting to rage. How dare he come in here and threaten her and her Steven? How dare he think he could just do this? _

_ “On the ground, or I’ll shoot!”  _

_ Lapis smiled, looking up as both robbers turned to her, confused. “Go ahead and try.” she said.  _

_ And with that, she raised her hands. The water coming from the sink in the boys’ bathroom slid from under the door and into the air, knocking the robbers back. Lapis leapt into the middle of the store, letting the water fan out behind her. She looked up as a man shot. She rolled away, letting the bullet fly into the water. She waited until it hit the ground, then shot the water again. She vaguely heard the cashier call the police, vaguely noticed a door somewhere opening. But she felt a rush, her gem starting to feel warm. She was doing something, fighting, risking herself. She moved the water towards the men, pinning them against a wall, then freezing it into ice. They were stuck.  _

_ Lapis heard something behind her, saw the men looking in that same direction. She ducked and swiveled as a third robber punched at her face. She leapt up and punched him in in turn, sending him flying into the ground, where she also pinned him with sink water. She breathed deeply, her hair starting to fall into her face. She looked up, to see customers getting off of the floor, a shaken cashier muttering something to the police, and… _

_ And Steven, standing outside the bathroom door, watching with a curious expression in his eyes- a mixture of worry, pride and awe.  _

_ Lapis tried to ignore the feeling in her stomach of euphoria that she’d impressed the boy, kept a blank face, and walked up to the cashier, slamming some money on the counter- was it a bit ironic she was paying with “stolen” money? Hmm, who really cared? _

_ “One Cookie Cat Bar.” she said.  _

 

“Steven, unblock this door right now.”

“No.”

Connie stood outside the door, sighing and tapping her foot. “Steven, we need to start making seashells or you’re not going to get any food.”

“Go away.”

“Steven, is this about my eyes? It’s fine, really.”

The half-gem was quiet on the other side of the door. “Steven, if you don’t move that chair right now I’m going to get a big rock and knock this door down.”

Steven was quiet again, and then he walked up and moved the chair. Connie walked in, surprised to see he was being very quiet. “Are you okay?”

In response, Steven pointed to the staircase, where he’d propped up the painting of Rose Quartz. 

“Wow. She’s beautiful.” Connie gaped. 

“That’s a Rose Quartz. She has my gem.” Steven replied. 

“Oh.”

“Meaning that her gem is what’s on the wall. Lapis had to know this, Connie, why else would she tell me to come here? She told me there weren’t any other gems. She  _ lied _ , Connie. We’ve never lied to each other! What else hasn’t she told me?”

Connie stayed quiet, staring at the portrait, then turning to Steven. “I guess I don’t know. Maybe she really didn’t know, maybe she’s lied about everything.”

“Wow, thanks.” Steven crossed his arms and stared at the floor. 

“But she cares about you, Steven. She’s stayed with you all these years, she told you to go to a safe place. She trusts you to be able to take care of yourself, didn’t just baby you and make you come with her for whatever she’s doing. She  _ believes _ in you, Steven!”

Steven looked up to see Connie blinking away tears. “Connie?” he asked carefully. “Are  _ you _ okay?”

Connie wiped the water away, smiling slowly. “Heh, yeah. Just, you know, I’m a little tired.” she turned to the painting of Rose. “Now, why would a painting of a Rose Quartz be in here?”

“I don’t know.” Steven shrugged. “Maybe she lived here.”

“Maybe, but then who lives here _ now _ ?”

Steven felt like the answer was obvious, but he just couldn’t see it. Like a puzzle piece that was broken and didn’t fit anymore. 

“I don’t know, but we should start making necklaces.” Steven sat down, his back to the painting. “You’re gonna need to sell something soon.”

 

_ “Lapis?” _

_ Lapis looked down at the nine-year-old boy, who was quietly playing his ukulele next to her. “Yeah, Steven?” _

_ “Where are all the other gems?” _

_ Lapis sighed, running her hands through the blades of grass, still damp from the rain the night before. “Far away.” _

_ “Oh. Why?” _

_ “Because something bad was going to happen on Earth, and they all left. They’re not coming back.” _

_ “So where are they?” _

_ “Home.” _

_ “Is it on Neptune?” _

_ “No, it’s much farther away. Galaxies away.”  _

_ “So why are you here?” _

_ Lapis sighed. “I told you Steven. I was in a mirror, and they didn’t know who I was. I got out, and I found you.” _

_ “Where’d you find me?” _

_ Lapis looked down at the boy, smiling. “You’re asking a lot of questions today.” _

_ “I was just thinking,” Steven plucked a few more strings, an F and an A? She still wasn’t very good at recognizing human music. “I’m a gem too. I’d like to know more about em.” _

_ Lapis sighed. “Maybe when you’re older.” _

_ “Well, what can I know now?” _

_ Lapis considered for a second, looking at her lap. “We all have magic powers. Each gem has a different power. And we’re ruled by-” _

_ “The diamonds. I know that.” Steven sighed. “Tell me about what Home is like.” _

_ Lapis looked up, staring at the fields ahead of her. “It’s wonderful, Steven. There are so many gems, all around. They’re all working, or planning, or trying to help each other. Everyone cares, everyone wants to help our home become better. There are many courts, so many beautiful things. It’s amazing, Steven. And… I miss it. I wish I could just fly away and not come back.” _

_ “And can I come, too?” Steven asked.  _

_ Lapis laughed, and laid down on the grass. “You’re a gem, Steven, but Home might not like Rose Quartzes. So I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.” _

_ “But probably?” _

_ “Yeah, probably.” _

_ Steven laid down next to Lapis, after putting his ukulele on the grass. “And there aren’t any other gems on Earth?” _

_ Silence. Steven looked over, but Lapis was facing away from him. What was she thinking? “Lapis?” _

_ “No, Steven. We’re the only gems here.” _


	11. Alone Together

Chapter Eleven

 

Steven sat on the beach, picking up seashells. They were pretty dirty, he’d have to wash them out before they put them on strings. Connie said she’d come soon, and he was starting to worry she’d gotten caught up in her “school” and forgotten about him. Why would she even need to go to a place to learn about the world when she could just go to the library? But, no, she’d said it was summertime, there wasn’t any school then. 

He eventually saw her walk up, with her glasses tucked into her bright blue dress, which was flapping in the wind. She smiled at him and kicked off her shoes as she sat down, putting her glasses with them. “Have you found some?” she asked, and he showed her the seashells he’d collected in the red bucket she’d left for him. 

“Great!” she pulled a bag off of her arm, reaching in to pull something out. “I found some on the way over, I’ll put them in- oops!”

She accidentally kicked her bag, knocking its contents all over the place. Steven bent down to help her pick it up as she muttered an apology and explanation of how her bag was pretty full anyway. 

Steven picked up a colorful piece of paper, reading the top. “Summer Dance at Middle School?”

Connie immediately grabbed the paper, her face red, as Steven started grinning. “Are you going to a  _ dance _ ?”

“Um, no. No, definitely not.” Connie shoved the paper into her bag. 

“Oh. Well, why do you have the flyer?”

Connie kept her gaze on the sand. “Um, well, I was thinking it might… but, no. I’d be too embarrassed.”

“What? Embarrassed to dance?” Steven knew that some people, like Lapis, just didn’t like dancing, but why would anyone be embarrassed?

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t think I could do it with all those people staring at me.” Connie shrugged. 

“Well… no one’s staring right now.”

Connie looked up at Steven. “Um, you are.”

Steven looked away. “Right, well, why don’t-”

He paused, then stood up and held out his hand. “What I’m trying to say is, come dance with me!”

Connie paused. “Hold on a second.” she pulled out her phone, tapped a few things in it, then music started to play. She stood up and grabbed Steven’s hand, and he pulled her into a dance. They moved their feet, holding hands, and then Steven spun Connie. Connie looked surprised, then they both laughed. They moved to opposite ends of the beach, dancing away. Steven looked up to watch Connie as she spun, her hair flying against the wind. He laughed a little, thinking about how beautiful she looked. 

They started spinning towards the center, laughing. Steven’s foot collided with something, and he started to fall. Connie whirled around and caught him, both of them breathing deeply. Then they laughed again, and Steven felt a warm feeling coming from his gem.

_ His _ gem?

The music stopped, and Steven blinked. Why was he so high up? Where was Connie? Where was… where was  _ Steven? _

They looked down at Connie’s flip-flops on the beach in front of them. “Why are your shoes too small for my… our… feet?”

They felt up their legs. They were too long, too skinny, or was it not skinny enough? They felt jean shorts, but weren’t they wearing a dress? Then they felt their chest, feeling a gem. They weren’t supposed to have a gem!  _ Steven  _ had a gem!

“Steven!”

“ _ Connie!” _

They had they same voice, could feel each others’ presence. But they were stuck together, there together, alone together. 

They were one person. 

 

They stood up slowly, trying to steady themselves. They were in one body together, much taller, much… stronger. They felt  _ great _ . But they also felt terrified. 

“Wha- what did I do?” they asked themselves, looking around at the beach. “Is this another one of our gem powers?”

They felt angry, confused, curious. “This seems like something Lapis should’ve told us! Can all gems do this, or is it just Roses? What are we doing? Is this why Lapis didn’t ever want to dance?”

They talked to themselves, spilling over both Steven and Connie’s thoughts. Eventually, they took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, we need to find out how to undo this. This could be a problem. Let’s just…”

They wanted to say “wait for Lapis”, but it’d been about a month now. Lapis wasn’t going to just show up soon. “Let’s just start walking. Maybe we’ll find a way out of this.”

“Do we… do we want to stop?” the amazing feeling was back again, more powerful this time. They laughed, and started spinning, eventually losing balance and falling over. They kept laughing, brushing their long hair of their face. They ran to Connie’s phone, pulling it out of the sand and using the black screen to look at their reflection. Wow. They were  _ amazing.  _

“We’re so totally cool!” they cheered, sliding Connie’s phone into her bag. “Let’s go explore!”

A soft feeling of dread built up in them. “No, no, not around people. We don’t want to be around people. Let’s…”

Water lapped against their feet. They looked down, watching the waves pull back into the ocean. Whether it was Steven’s almost instinctual love of the ocean, or Connie’s drive to try new things, or, more plausibly, a grand mixture of both, they felt a pull towards the waves. They let out a laugh again, tossing Connie’s bag farther into the beach and running down, throwing themselves into the ocean. They went underwater, their hair floating upwards and out of their face. They tried to open their eyes, only to be met with stinging salt water. Slowly, they pushed themselves up and emerged, throwing their head back to keep their hair out of their face. They laughed again, once their mouth was clear of water, and floated to their back, letting their feet propel them farther from shore. They summoned a bubble, letting it sink into the water. There was still some water filling up about half the bubble, and Steven-and-Connie let the water flow around their legs, barely missing their shorts. They looked out the bubble to see the dark waves move around them, fish try to dart away from the pink light, and the sun shrinking farther away. The two got agitated after a while- the sun was getting too far away- and popped the bubble after taking a deep breath. They pushed themselves again, using their combined strength to make it to the surface. They took a few more gulps of air before letting themselves giggle again, then going underwater for a second try. 

They did this several more times, each time getting a bit further down before getting worried and going back up. They both laughed and cheered everytime they made it back up. Both? Were they both Steven and Connie? Or were they something… something entirely new?

They didn’t know, didn’t care. Eventually, they swam to shore, looking at the sinking sun. “What time is it?” they asked themselves, staring down at their sopping wet clothes and squeezing their damp hair. 

In response, Connie’s bag started buzzing. 

They approached it warily, picking the phone out. They thought for a second, then answered, clearing their voice and hoping this worked. 

“Hi Mom!” they responded, doing a pretty decent impression of Connie. “How’s it going?”

“Honey, is something wrong with your voice? It sounds deep.”

Steven-and-Connie coughed, then made their voice higher. “No, it’s just the cell connection.”

“Oh. Well, we just wanted to make sure you’d be home on time.”

Steven and Connie bit their lip. Oh yeah. They still had to separate at some point. “Well, um, I might be a little late. The… the library’s open late tonight, and I want to study more.”

The lie wasn’t a very good one, one that could be easily checked, but Steven and Connie sighed when their mom- Connie’s mom?- replied, “Well, I don’t know… as long as you’re home by 9:30.”

It was about 7:00, right? “Deal. Thanks!” they waited for the woman to hang up, then dropped the phone in their bag and ran their hands through their hair. “Oh boy.  _ Oh BOY _ . What are we doing? This is bad. We need to separate. How did we do this? We danced. Okay, let’s, um… dance in reverse? But there were two of us?”

They groaned and flopped to the sand, curling up into a ball. “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”

Then they thought they heard something, something distant. They stood, wondering what it was. It sounded like a low hum- maybe another earthquake? Now, it was changing frequency now. It sounded like the earth was humming a tune. 

Steven-and-Connie listened, walking closer to where the noise might be coming from. They tried to make out the notes… wait a minute. They  _ recognized  _ those notes. They were-

Steven-and-Connie’s foot caught on something, and they fell over. The sand beneath them caved, and they fell into darkness. 


	12. Falling Apart and Coming Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the format will be a little different, because I just figured out how the Rich Text works. O_O Anyway, I'm updating the other chapters so I can, y'know, have things like italics. Thanks for leaving comments, they make my day! :)

Chapter Twelve

 

They landed with a thud, letting out a cry of pain. Their legs hurt, but they still worked. Augh, they should’ve bubbled themselves before they hit the bottom. But they’d fallen so fast, they hadn’t thought...

They stood, putting a hand against the wall to support themselves. They breathed deeply, pushing their hair back. Oh, Connie should’ve brought hair ties! They needed them right now, and they were sitting at home on Connie’s dresser!

Oh gosh.  _ Home _ . How was Connie going to get home now?

“And what about Lapis?” they asked, unaware they were now talking, their panic from the last few weeks starting to rise again. “What if she comes while you’re- we’re down here?”

They took a breath and steadied themselves. “Let’s walk down the hall. There should be a way out, right? Maybe the earth will hum again.”

“Steven…” they said to themselves, leaning against the wall again. “Those notes- they were- what again?”

“The… the mystery song.” Steven replied to herself- himself? Themself? Augh! “I’d been playing it, thought it might have words… why was something humming it?”

They started to walk down the hall, trailing their hand on the left wall. They hummed it to themselves again, using their right hand to tap out the rhythm on their leg as they walked. They started singing more as they walked. They started with some pop songs Steven had heard years back, followed by songs that were actually popular now, according to Connie, then a song Steven remembered from when he was a kid. He didn’t remember who sung it to him- probably Lapis, but she tended to sing about the sea. This was more about connection, happiness, love. 

“ _ If I could begin to be, half of what you think of me… _ ” they trailed, starting to wonder how long they’d been walking. “ _ I could do about anything, I could even learn how to… _ ”

“ _ How to… _ ”

Well, they’d certainly found  _ something _ . 

They’d turned a corner, and in front of them was… was it alien? It was in earth, implying it was simply subterranean creatures, but it looked more sci-fi than anything. It had a metallic look, but with a green color, and with a soft yellow light emitting from a square on the top. It looked like a sideways room, that stretched out in front of them for along while, with their eyes barely making out the end. They slowly walked in, a sense of dread in their stomach. 

“What is this?” they asked with a trembling voice. They passed by gray countertops that jutted out of the floor, covered in buttons and wheels. On the walls were pods, completely still and unmoving, filled with a pale yellow fog. Steven-and-Connie moved carefully, slipping a little on the tilted floor. They looked ahead, and reached the end of the wall, showing a dark screen that occasionally let out a green flicker. There was a chair in front of it, behind another table, this one simply with a wheel and three buttons. They didn’t like this. It didn’t feel right. Steven-and-Connie started to feel like walls were closing in around them, though nothing moved and everything was dead silent. They turned towards the left to head out, then gasped. 

Three pods, at the end of the row, were broken open. The edge one was smashed from the right side, with what looked like a loose chair crumpled inside it. The other two had larger holes, broken from the front. Steven-and-Connie started to sweat, backing away rapidly. “This isn’t good.” they repeated to themselves. “This isn’t  _ good _ !”

They turned to the table in front of the screen, looking down at the wheel. The buttons were labelled in some weird dialect, and the wheel looked ominous. They turned towards the chair, and with relief saw that there was a button on there, labelled with what looked like the screen in front of them. They pressed it, hoping for the best, and sure enough, the screen flickered to life, giving a little reboot jingle, then flicking into two squares. One, with a bright yellow border around it, showed one of the pods broken, while the other showed them all intact. Steven-and-Connie looked to the board again, and slowly clicked a button in the middle of the wheel.

Something buzzed beneath their feet. That wasn’t right. They clicked the center button on the panel, and thankfully that selected the file. It was a video, which came to a fullscreen and started playing immediately, with the fog escaping through the hole. The camera seemed to be viewing from the left, and when Steven-and-Connie looked, there was indeed a circular shape from that angle, which had been shattered. 

They turned back to the screen and leapt back when they saw a hand grab the edge of the pod and pull a body out. 

The person that came out was vaguely feminine, with dark hair cascading down her shoulders- well, dark _ er.  _ The video was in black and white. The thing that attracted Steven-and-Connie’s attention, though, was the gem on her chest. They looked up, and froze again. There was something about her eyes that made their insides go cold. Why did their eyes look familiar?

She looked around and let out a yell, then ran offscreen. She then ran back, turning into a ball and ramming into the second pod. When that broke, she climbed out of it, then reached out a hand to pull out a second gem, one with a triangular gem on her arm. The second had gray-ish hair that poofed out and didn’t go below the neck. The second gem pulled an axe out of her gem- did they see that  _ right _ ?- and smashed the third pod. A third gem climbed out and-

_ No! _

It was the purple gem. 

Or... was it?

She had the same wild hair, same small noise, but she was almost three times as tall, and her gem was on her cheek. Steven-and-Connie were frozen, staring blankly at the scene in front of them. 

The purple gem seemed to ask something, gesturing with her hands. This had to be a different Violet. Lapis had pretty much told Steven there were multiples of each gem, so what? There were two Violets? Yes, that seemed likely. 

The large gem and the small gem looked like they were arguing. Steven-and-Connie tried to read their lips, but the video was too fuzzy. 

The Gray gem turned around, then walked off-frame. The two gems watched as the sound of something  _ opening  _ happened offscreen. Then two Grays came on screen. 

The first turned to the second, then said something, which made the dark-haired gem yell. 

A cold dread crept up on Steven-and-Connie. What were they talking about?

They then pulled up a screen on the dark gem’s wristcuff, which showed… oh, that was Earth. Well, they crashed here, that must mean something. 

And then they saw holes start to come into the planet, leaving it hollow inside. The planet turned darker, until the hologram stopped. Steven-and-Connie studied the faces of the Gems trying to find horror, maliciousness, happiness,  _ anything _ that would express interest. But they looked almost  _ bored _ at the idea of the destruction of the planet. They  _ wanted _ to destroy the Earth? Then the hologram came up again, showing a symbol of several triangles. Steven-and-Connie stared, trying to figure out what it was for. Then their eyes fell onto their uniforms- consisting of diamonds. 

Like the Diamond leaders. 

Then the Violet turned around, confused, and was thrown into the camera, shattering it. 

 

The video stopped, and Steven-and-Connie felt sick. Destroy the planet? And the gems were from Lapis’s home- was  _ that home? _ Was that what Lapis wanted to return to?

Steven-and-Connie stumbled backwards, feeling disorientated. They landed on the side of the table, their arms knocking something over. They turned, and saw a lump of something covered in yellow goo, from a shattered bottle. Another shattered bottle was next to it, and Steven-and-Connie pulled their hands away from the goo, wiping it on their pants. They started to feel dizzy, tired. They had to  _ get out _ . 

They started to run, as the ship beneath them started to rumble. Steven-and-Connie paid no mind, their mind focused on one thing- getting out of that ship. They felt none of the joy they’d experienced earlier, only fear. Fear of everything around them. 

 

When the ship stopped rumbling, the lump in the yellow goo started to rise. The goo dripped off, revealing a shiny red surface underneath. 

The lump was surrounded by a golden glow, which shaped itself into a silhouette. The silhouette then collapsed onto the slanted table. It had poofy hair let loose, and a red vest and brown pants with matching boots. She wiped the yellow goo off her hand, then started to look around in a panic. 

“ _ Sapphire? _ ”

She jumped off the table, panicking. “ _ Sapphire! _ ”

She looked under the table, and her eyes widened. She reached under and managed to grab and pull out a blue gem, with the faintest remains of yellow goo outside. Once the red gem put it on the ground, it also floated up and formed into a body, with bangs covering most of her face and a long silky dress. “Ruby!” she yelled as soon as she formed, turning to the red gem. 

“Sapphire!” Ruby ran and hugged her close, running her hands through the blue hair. Sapphire returned the hug, then slowly pulled away. 

“Th-thanks. I kept trying to reform, but I was stuck in such a small space I couldn’t. I tried to send vibrations of some of our songs through the ground-”

“It’s okay!” Ruby smiled. “My container must have smashed by accident! Now we can go get those- Sapphire?”

Sapphire was distracted, staring ahead. She then turned to her Ruby. “Ruby, he was  _ here _ .”

“Wh-what?” Ruby asked. 

In response, Sapphire grabbed her Ruby’s hands and spun her. They both were emerged in a bright light, and then they were gone. Instead was a tall woman, with Ruby’s wild hair and three eyes. She quickly summoned a visor and closed her eyes. Yes, Sapphire had been right. He was here. She touched her visors, hoping to see where he was most likely to be next. 

Why would he be at the Galaxy Warp?


	13. Everything Changes

Chapter Thirteen

 

Steven-and-Connie ran, the ground rumbling beneath them. They started to panic, started to lose feeling in their fingers. They reached the wall where they’d fallen, and started to pull at their hair. What were they doing? They needed to get  _ out! _

They summoned a bubble, which emitted a soft pink light. They rolled it to the wall and looked up. Yes! They saw indentations in the dirt. They popped the bubble and started climbing the wall, their hands sweaty and nearly slipping everytime a handhold was reached. Eventually, they pulled themselves up close to the light of the beach and jumped, grasping the sand. They started to slip again, but managed to find a foothold before pulling themselves onto the sand. They kept moving, at first crawling, then pushing themselves up and running. They slid to the stairs of the beach house, unaware of what they were doing, where they wanted to go, they just had to  _ run.  _ They slammed into the railing, letting out a yelp of surprise and pain. Still, they kept moving, rushing up the stairs and bursting through the door of the beach house. They landed on the floor, clutching their head. Steven was seeing things- or was it… no. It was just Steven. Flashes of fire, screams, slices through the air. Connie experienced them as well, but they definitely came from Steven. In fact, it was more clearly from Steven every second. 

In a bright flash, Steven-and-Connie turned into Steven and Connie. 

Connie gasped, staring at the ceiling, slowly coming to her senses. Then she immediately turned around. “ _ Steven _ !”

Steven was curled in a ball, crying and clutching his head. “It hurts!” he yelled. 

“What, your head?” Connie asked, running over to see if she could diagnose him. 

“My gem, too!” Steven yelled, as Connie indeed saw a bright pink glow from his gem.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s so hot! Why is it so hot, Connie?”

“It’s… it’s alright, Steven! It’s… Steven it’s almost  _ cold  _ out here, open your eyes!”

“No!” Steven yelled, closing into a ball. “If I open them I’ll see it again!”

“See  _ what _ ? Steven, what will you see?”

Steven then leapt to his feet, stumbled, and crashed into the wall. “ _ Pearl! _ ”

He started to breathe raggedly, then blinked and looked up at Connie. “What…”

“What just happened?” Connie asked, panic rising in her voice. 

“I saw it.” Steven breathed. “I remembered… something. Then it was just… gone again.”

Before Connie could respond, a blue pedestal in front of the gems on the wall started to glow. 

Thinking quickly, Steven grabbed Connie’s hand and pulled her to the bedroom area, under the bed. They waited, hearing and seeing a flash of light illuminate the room. Then they heard a yawn. 

They froze. Someone was in the house, and they came through the flash of light. 

A door opened- the door to the bathroom. Connie started to calm, but then she saw Steven tighten up. “What?” she whispered. 

“The worm.”

Immediately after, they heard a pop. They froze, expecting to hear a roar, but nothing came. Instead, after few seconds, the door slammed open again. “Alright, who’s here!” a voice yelled. “Get out!”

Steven recognized the voice vaguely, but he still felt disorientated from the flashback and the combination of him and Connie. He looked at Connie, who looked back at him. They had a similar idea. 

“Okay, very funny.” the voice said again as the footsteps approached their hiding spot, and Steven and Connie started to back out of it. “Whoever you are, you need to leave or I’m going to-”

The voice didn’t finish, as the two kids had backed out of the bed. Steven summoned a bubble, which surrounded him and Connie but sent the bed flying, knocking over whoever the voice belonged to and sending them flying. “Run!” Connie yelled, and they jumped out the window and slid down the roof. They grabbed each other’s hands and jumped off the railing, using the bubble to break their fall. They got to their feet and ran again, trying to get as far away from the beach as possible. Suddenly, something hooked against Connie’s ankle, and she started being dragged backwards. 

They yelled for each other as Connie slipped out of Steven’s fingers. Steven felt an anger rising in him, overcoming his fear. “Leave her alone!” he yelled, and jumped, landing in front of Connie, and holding out his hand. 

A shield blazed in front of it.

Whatever hooked to Connie’s ankle loosened, and she kicked it away. Steven knew that they had precious seconds before the shadowy figure overcame its surprise. “Connie, run!” he yelled, then ran in the opposite direction. 

“Wait!” called the voice, but Steven was running again. He started a zig-zag pattern, heading back towards the beach. Suddenly, something wrapped around his waist and yanked him backwards, sending him sprawling into the sand. 

“I’m sorry, okay, I didn’t know it was your house!” he yelled, eyes shut, trying to summon a bubble but failing to due to the panic building inside him. “Just go away!”

What he didn’t expect to hear next was laughter. 

He slowly put his arm down- it had been in front of his face in case of an attack- and looked up, confused, then suddenly froze in shock. 

In front of him-  _ very _ close in front of him- laughing, was the Purple Gem. 

She looked up, tears filling her eyes. “S-Steven! It’s  _ your  _ house!”

“What?” Steven asked, feeling more confused than ever. 

“Steven, you’re… you’re here!” the Purple Gem grinned, putting her hands on his face. She seemed to have no idea what personal space was, as she started moving her hands around his face and hair, before looking down at his shirt. It had been pulled slightly up from the fall, and the bottom half of Steven’s gem was visible. Violet paused and stared at it, then looked back up at the terrified human. “It  _ is  _ you!  _ Steven _ !”

“What… who  _ are  _ you?” Steven asked. 

The Purple Gem’s tears returned again, and she let out a small chuckle. “Yeah. Garnet said you might not remember us. Well, I guess you can call me your Amethyst.”


	14. Warp Tour

Chapter Fourteen

 

Amethyst. 

That lingered in his head, awoke something in his mind. A face, close to his, but with a brighter background, and she had longer sleeves. Laughing, smiling. He blinked, and she was still there, but it was getting dark, and she was crying through her smile. Her face was a lot closer to his- she had absolutely no concept of personal space, did she?

“Amethyst.” he repeated, letting it sink in. 

She pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing him very tight. “I can’t believe you made it back! And to think, if I hadn’t slipped into the bubble you made- YOU BUBBLED A GEM! What kind of monster was it, how did you beat it up? How long have you been here?”

Steven decided to answer the last question first, after Amethyst pulled him away and looked at him expectantly. “Um, I’ve been here, maybe a little over a month?”

“A  _ month _ ?” Amethyst looked angry. “You’ve been back home for a month and we didn’t notice?” She froze, staring to space. “Wait.  _ That’s  _ where all that extra food came from!”

“Uh, yeah.” Steven laughed. “Um, so, your turn, who  _ are  _ you again?”

“I told you, I’m Amethyst.” She sat down next to him, grinning. “I was friends with your mom!”

Steven was immediately ashamed- for several reasons- when his first reaction was to scream, “Lapis?”

Firstly, because he’d only called Lapis his Mom in times of emergency- when someone had asked, or when he was lost. He’d never called her his Mom to anyone else, least of all her- who knew how she’d react?

Secondly, because Amethyst’s expression went from confusion to anger to sadness. “Uh, no. Not Lapis. Your real Mom. Rose Quartz.”

“Rose Quartz was my  _ Mom _ ?” Steven asked. “I thought… I  _ was  _ her, just as a human.”

“Well, kinda.” Amethyst smiled slightly, grabbing his hand. “You see, your Mom fell in love with a human, and had you. You’re half-human, and she gave up her form so you could also be half-gem.”

“Half-human, half-gem.” Steven sighed, his eyes widening. He  _ wasn’t  _ some mystical Rose Quartz who’d lost her memories and gone human. He was Steven. That was… slightly jarring, but also explained a lot. “Do I… Do I have a Dad?”

“Yeah!” Amethyst grinned. “His name’s Greg, and he lives  _ right here  _ in town! At the car wash!”

“My family’s all here?” Steven asked, the pieces finally coming together in his head. They were here, Lapis knew they were there. But then why had she taken him away?

“Yeah! It’s me, Greg, Pearl and…” Amethyst paused. “And Garnet.”

“Garnet?” 

“Yeah. She ran off about a year ago, looking for you and vanished. We thought…” She paused, looking at the ground. “She’ll be back, though. She’ll always be back.”

Amethyst looked up. “Come on! Let’s go find Pearl!”

She grabbed Steven’s hand and dragged him away. 

 

They entered the house, and Amethyst ran to the blue pedestal. Steven paused when they entered, though, looking up. Had that hole  the roof always been there?

“Ste-man, you coming?” Amethyst asked, worry starting to fill her gaze. 

Steven looked up at her. “Yeah. Just let me grab something.”

He reached into his bag and grabbed his picture of Amethyst, along with a purple crayon. He then paused, and ran over to grab his drawing of Lapis, too. Amethyst eyed him, until he ran back. She then spread out her arms, and light surrounded them. 

Steven felt like he was floating- which, he was. He stared to fly above Amethyst, who grabbed his leg. “Whoa! Don’t fly away, buddy!”

Steven, however, swung outside the stream of light. He blinked as he saw the other streams of light all building and… what were  _ those _ ?

He was yanked back into the warp. Amethyst was looking concerned. “Don’t  _ do _ that! You could-”

“There were other things in the warps.” Steven replied. 

Amethyst poked her head out, then came back. “We’re changing directions, buddy.”

They landed on a warp, and Steven fell on his stomach. Then Amethyst immediately spread out her arms and sent them back into the warp. They flew for a bit, until they landed. They looked up, at the circular stone floor in front of them- and beyond that, the ocean. There were tons of identical warps, but what also caught Steven’s eye was a bunch of small circular robots, all scampering towards a large warp in the center. 

However, Amethyst focused on another thing entirely. “ _ Garnet _ !”

Steven looked up to see a tall, red gem crouched behind the warp, who turned away from the small robonoids to focus on the two who had just arrived. “Amethyst?” she asked, surprised, then her gaze fell on Steven, and her face looked shocked and delighted. “ _ Steven _ ?”

Amethyst grabbed Steven’s hands and ran to Garnet, knocking her over with a huge hug. Steven was pulled in as well, and hugged the gem back as his mind was racing. Garnet. He now vaguely remembered a smiling gem, clapping along to a song. It was clearer now - he remembered her smile as they played a game, he remembered her singing- and she was right here. 

“You’re Garnet.” Steven repeated as they sat up. 

“He came back, Garnet!  _ You  _ came back!” Amethyst looked ready to burst. “What happened to you?”

Garnet glanced down at the ground. “One of the Homeworld Gems got me while I was exploring their ship. Sa- my gem was stuck behind the table, so I couldn’t reform until I got out.”

“You were in that room?” Steven asked. “Connie and I were there!”

“Connie?” Amethyst and Garnet asked. 

Steven didn’t answer right away, and Garnet pulled him into another hug. Surprised, Steven hugged her back. “We missed you.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It was  _ theirs. _ ”

Before Steven could ask, something sounded. The gems looked up to see the robonoids leave the large warp, covered in goop. The goop disappeared, and suddenly someone warped in. Garnet pulled Steven and Amethyst behind a warp pad and ducked them down. 

She was tall, and green, with a gem on her forehead. Her blonde hair fanned out into a triangular position. Her fingers moved and morphed into a screen, which she tapped on with one of her other fingers. “This is Peridot, reporting in.”

As she talked, Steven turned to Garnet and Amethyst. “Is she one of yours?”

“No.” Garnet replied, whispering. “Us and- a few others- are the only gems on Earth.”

Someone else had said that to him. 

Steven glared. “Oh, really? The only gems on Earth? Are you sure about that?”

“Steven?” Amethyst asked in a hushed whisper. 

“Are you  _ positive _ ?” Steven asked, throwing his hands up. As he did so, he accidentally threw into the air the purple crayon he’d brought with him. It flew and hit the green gem in the head. The gems ducked, and heard the Peridot stutter.

“What the-” she paused. “Thi-this site may have been compromised.” And she vanished. 

The gems looked up, and saw that the robonoids had fallen over, deactivated. 

“She- she fixed the warp?” Amethyst asked. 

There was silence. Then, Amethyst yelled. “Oh, that’s just  _ perfect _ ! We are  _ dead _ ! We are  _ so dead _ !”

“What was that?” Steven asked. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Garnet walked up to the warp, observing it curiously. Then, she raised her arms. She summoned gauntlets to her hands, and they suddenly  _ grew _ . She brought them down, smashing the warp. She turned towards a stunned Amethyst and Steven. “She’s  _ not  _ coming back.”


	15. Battle

Chapter Fifteen

 

There was silence. Then, Garnet turned to Steven. “Why did you have a crayon with you?”

Steven looked down to his fist, and opened it, pulling out a now crumpled-up paper. “I drew this, and was gonna finish it.” he said, showing them his picture of Amethyst.

They looked down at it. “I- I had dreams about Amethyst before she found me.” Steven explained. “I didn’t want to forget her.”

Amethyst looked ready to cry. “I thought those were just nightmares. You were actually there, weren’t you?”

“I guess.” Steven was shaking. He looked up at Garnet. “What gems are on Earth?”

“Me, Amethyst, Pearl and… three others.”

Three. And did that include Lapis? And was she being honest?

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Garnet responded, a hint of hesitance in her voice. “Why?”

Steven stared down at the ground. “I don’t like lies.”

Garnet leaned over to Steven, and put her hands on his shoulders. “Steven, where were you while you were gone?”

Steven wanted to tell them about Lapis, but he paused. Lapis obviously didn’t want to disclose that there were other gems. Perhaps she was hiding from them. He said after a while. “Why was I gone?”

Garnet and Amethyst looked at each other, then back at Steven. Garnet adjusted her glasses, then froze. She stood up and ran towards the warp, leaving Amethyst and Steven little choice but to follow. She yelled back, “We need to get to Pearl! Now!”

“What’s wrong with Pearl?” Amethyst asked with a panicked voice, and Steven turned to see her look absolutely terrified. “It’s not-”

“I’m afraid it is.” Garnet said as they stumbled onto the warp. “It’s the Homeworld Gems.”

 

As they warped, Steven turned on the gems. “Homeworld? You mean the gems that crashed here?”

Their looks of surprise filled Steven in. So the gems who crashed had caused trouble. “How many, again?”

“Three.” Garnet responded. “There were four, but one of them was shattered when they captured me.”

“And they’re with… Pearl?” Steven asked.

“Yes.” Garnet responded. “And we’ve got to find her. She’s an amazing fighter, but she can’t hold them on her own.”

The warp dropped them off in a field, filled with large strawberries. Steven stared, and Amethyst inhaled sharply. “Of course she’d be here.” she muttered.

That was when something exploded next to them.

Garnet summoned her gauntlets, and Amethyst pulled a whip out of her gem. Steven stepped behind them, watching as they ran forwards. He followed carefully, preparing to bubble himself at a moment’s notice. As the dust cleared, he saw the gems fighting ahead.

The Wristcuff-Gem was on the side, sitting in the grass and fiddling with her wristcuff, a metal shield in front of her. And a giant Gray was next to her. She was twice the size of the Gray in the video, and had both gems. Steven paused. Had the Grays done what he did with Connie? Gray was swinging an axe at a figure obscured by shadow, but seemed surprised when Garnet leapt at her from the side, causing her to lose balance. As she stumbled to regain control, the Gem screamed as Amethyst jumped on top of the shield and leapt down to fight her.

Gray swung at Garnet and the other figure- Pearl?- and nearly hit them both before Garnet pushed Pearl to the ground. The axe struck down, separating them again. The Pearl rolled towards Steven, and he saw a flash of white, while Garnet and the Gray fought head-on.

Steven immediately felt a pull to help- whoever Garnet was, she knew him, she cared about him, and he felt a connection to her- he needed to help her! As he ran, he tried to summon his shield. He thought it was coming, but he tripped over something on the ground- someone- and instinctively a bubble surrounded him. He paused as the muted battle raged outside. “I’m sorry!” he immediately yelled to whomever he tripped over, whirling around. “I just… didn’t…”

He and the gem froze.

This was Pearl.

He remembered now. He remembered her singing, soft and quiet, and he remembered her telling him stories- which stories, he couldn’t quite piece together, but he remembered her vivid voice and bright smile. And he remembered a fear in her eyes as a fire raged behind her, running with him, running away… He remembered absolute terror.

His eyes fell on her white gem, right underneath her pink hair. He remembered her.

“Steven,” she breathed, and Steven realized she remembered him, too.

She looked surprised, amazed, ecstatic, and worried all at once. Steven saw that she was hurt- her arm was dangling, her face was bruised and her eye was twitching. But then she burst into a smile, tears forming in her eyes. “Steven!”

“Pearl.” he said, and jumped over to hug her.

She hugged him, too, pulling him tight. The bubble rocked a little, but the world outside seemed to slow.

Pearl started to speak. “I’m sorry, Steven, I tried to find you but you were always moving and I couldn’t contact the Gem you were with and we were fighting monsters and _I’m so sorry, Steven!_ ”

Steven looked up at Pearl. “You… you know Lapis?”

Pearl looked confused. “Lapis? Is that the Mirror Gem?”

Steven slowly blinked. “You don’t know?”

“Steven…” Pearl slowly pulled away, wiping her tears on her arm. “What… what do you remember?”

Steven felt confused. “Not much… I remember you a bit, and Garnet and Amethyst. But, mostly nothing until Lapis.”

Pearl looked almost hurt. “So… you don’t remember anything we told you about Rose? Or Greg? Or everything we’ve done together? I thought...”

Suddenly, her hurt turned to anger, and she turned towards where the gray shield was lying. Summoning a spear from her gem, she turned to him, a fury in her eyes.

“Drop the bubble.”

Steven obeyed, and Pearl leapt out towards where Amethyst was chasing the Dark Gem. Steven turned around to see Garnet slide next to him, breathing deeply. “Run!” she ordered Steven, then ran at Gray again.

Gray smirked and summoned a ball of fire from her hands, throwing it to the plants and setting them aflame. That fire… it sickened Steven. It felt _wrong_.

Steven stumbled backwards, then turned to see Amethyst and Pearl chasing the wristcuff gem, who was sliding around and yelling at them to leave her be. The Dark Gem turned towards Steven, and there was a hint of recognition in her eyes. Then she smirked and turned to Amethyst and Pearl, who had frozen in place when they saw who she was looking at. She turned back to them. “Aw,” she taunted, “Is this what’s become of your leader?”

Pearl let out a yell and charged, swinging her spear but missing as the Dark Gem dodged and ran again.

Steven was suddenly lifted off of his feet, dangled by his shirt into the air. The Earth Gems stopped moving, staring upwards at Steven, who realized that he had been grabbed by Gray.

“There we go.” She growled, her voice booming. “That’s the problem with you Crystal Gems, you care too much about stupid humans.”

_Crystal Gems._

_Crystal Gems?_

Steven froze, feeling something beat at the edge of his memory. Something was trying to come back, something was trying to break free. Suddenly he yelled as a cold fist clamped around him, squeezing him.

“Steven!” the gems yelled, suddenly fearful.

Steven felt himself dropped suddenly, and something tackled Steven from the side, sending him flying away from the other gems. He struggled to breathe as someone’s arm was against his throat- _the Dark Gem_.

“Stop!” the gem yelled as the gems tried to run closer, pulling tighter on the half-human’s neck. “I don’t think she can breathe well in this form, can she?”

The three gems froze, looking terrified at this gem.

“I guess she can’t.” Wristcuff-Gem started laughing, a dark laugh that made Steven’s skin crawl. “What poor planning, Rose.”

“Stop it!” Pearl yelled. “Haven’t you hurt him enough?”

Wristcuff laughed again, looking up at Gray with a glare that said ‘ _Wait a moment_ .’ “What? You think _I_ took her memories from her?” she looked down at Steven, seeming to relish the fear in his eyes. “No, that’s just human stupidity at its finest. Just a quick blow to the head and they can’t remember anything, can they? What I can do, is bring her memories back.”

She studied the wristcuff, which Steven could feel against his skin, metallic and cold. “The things technology can do, huh? Turns out some gems have memory problems after they reform, this handy thing can bring them back. But you know, I have control over what I can bring to her. Do you think I could give the human _her_ memories? Do you think she would like to remember the war? Ooh! I know! What if she remembers everything she did _before_ the war! How would you like that?”

“Leave him alone!” Pearl yelled, starting to come closer, and Wristcuff backed up, pulling Steven closer to her. He yelled, and tried to loosen around his neck.

“Do you feel pain now, Rose Quartz?” she asked. “How do you feel _now_?”

Steven felt on the verge of tears, still struggling to breathe. However, he realized that he could hear a small hum of energy in the ground and… he could hear water. Steven looked down, noticing that behind them was a puddle of water. Suddenly, he had an idea- a crazy idea, but it could work. He looked up at the gem holding him, rage boiling in his eyes. “My name,” he told her, “is _Steven_.”

He kicked her in the legs, causing her to yell out and stumble backwards. Suddenly, the water rose around them, pushing at the Wristcuff, pushing her away from the human.

However, at the last second, the gem shoved the wristcuff onto Steven, pressing a button and grabbing him close. Steven screamed as pain jolted through his body, and electricity surged through the water. He could barely register the gems calling out for him, barely feel arms grab him and pull him from the water, running with him into the woods…

Because his memories were coming surging back. All at the exact same time.

And he passed out.


	16. Way Back When

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe we're wrapping up so soon! I'm really excited- I've actually never finished a written story before (except for One-Shots)! Thanks for your comments, I really appreciate them. This chapter is specifically a backstory section, and I've had so much fun coming up with the beginning of this AU Fic. Thanks for being so great. :)

Chapter Sixteen

 

_ Some things were still blurry. Like, who actually remembers the first 4-5 years of their life? But Steven started to remember more. He remembered, first a memory he had from when he was about seven, when the town he and Lapis had stayed in had shown a movie projected on the beach. It was about a princess named Maria who was separated from her home and lost her memory, growing up without knowing that her family was searching tirelessly for her. He’d come home to Lapis, crying, and hugged her. He’d asked her, “Do you think someone’s looking for me?” _

_ “Maybe.” Lapis had sighed. “I don’t know, Steven. We can’t take that chance.” _

_ Steven was small, and he didn’t understand, really. He let out a cry, which confused Lapis, but she hugged him back. “I’ll be your family now, is that okay?” Lapis had asked, pulling away slightly and looking down at the child.  _

_ Steven had nodded. “Yeah. You’re a good fam’ly.” _

_ Then the rest of it came back to Steven.  _

_ He remembered his Dad, Beach City. He remembered sitting on the beach in his Dad’s van and playing his ukulele, his Dad’s silly jokes, and gosh, he remembered the gems. The gems coming to visit him, laughing at his jokes, telling him stories about space and magic and his mother. They told him of how amazing his mother was, how beautiful, how kind. They were building him a house, so he could live with them and learn about his gem magic. He remembered singing with them, being happy.  _

_ And he remembered when it all went wrong.  _

 

_ “What was that?”  _

_ As the smoke started to billow higher, the gems looked towards the beach. They looked back towards Steven, concern filling their gazes. “Stay here. We’ll take care of it.” Garnet stated, summoning her gauntlets. _

_ “Yeah! Time to beat the crap out of something!” Amethyst cheered.  _

_ “But you guys said you’d spend the day with me!” Steven moped, looking at them with pleading eyes. “Can’t I come, too?” _

_ They looked at each other, worried. Then Pearl leaned over, and smiled at Steven. “Do you want to see something cool?” _

_ “Yes!” Steven responded, stars in his eyes and breaking into a smile.  _

_ Pearl stretched out her legs, stretching around and making weird noises. Then, something glowed and emerged from her gem, forming the shape of a mirror and eventually forming color and mass, and spinning in the air.  _

_ “We found this gem-controlled mirror at the Galaxy Warp.” Pearl explained as Steven grabbed the mirror out of the air, and turned it to see a cracked gem on the back. “It has the power to show things from all throughout gem history. Just ask it to show you something, and it will.” _

_ “So… I can’t come with you?” Steven asked, disappointment filling his gaze. _

_ “Sorry, buddy.” Amethyst ruffled up his hair. “But, hey! You can hang out with us all you want once we finish the house!” _

_ “O-okay.” Steven smiled a little, trying to mask his disappointment.  _

_ “Gems, move out!” Garnet yelled, and the gems ran towards the beach.  _

_ Steven sighed and looked into the mirror. “Um, okay, can you show me the beach? Er, please?” _

_ No response. Maybe the mirror was broken. Steven didn’t really care. He started running backwards, using the mirror to see. “Hey, this is really cool!” he yelled, and bumped into a tween boy.  _

_ “Hey, watch where you’re going” he yelled.  _

_ “Um, sorry! I’m Steven!” Steven held out his hand for the boy to shake. “Do you wanna be friends?” _

_ The boy huffed and stalked off.  _

_ “Um, okay. Maybe later!” Steven called, then turned back to the mirror. “You can be my new friend, mirror!” _

_ He started running backwards again, eventually nearing a crossroads in the street. He started laughing again. Suddenly, he heard something- the tween again, yelling, “Watch where you’re going!” Reflected in the mirror.  _

_ Steven looked up and suddenly heard tires screeching. He yelled and ran, barely missing a shiny white van. He caught his breath, terrified, then looked down at the mirror, surprised. “You do work!” _

_ The mirror didn’t respond.  _

_ Steven cleared his throat. “Hi! I’m Steven!” _

_ Pause. Then he saw, reflected back at him, what he’d just done. “I’m Steven.” _

_ “No,” Steven giggled, “ _ I’m  _ Steven, who are you?” _

_ Pause again, then, reflected in the mirror’s image, “Steven… new friend!” _

_ “You made something new!” Steven cheered. “Let’s go have fun, Mirror!” _

 

_ If making fart noises on the beach during a mayoral candidate’s speech was fun, then Steven and the Mirror had a lot of it. They continued making fart noises even after people had dispersed. Steven was laughing, and almost forgot about the Gems running off after something that crashed on the beach.  _

_ Well, he remembered it soon enough when an explosion rocked the beach.  _

_ Steven looked up, clutching the mirror’s handle tightly. He saw the smoke clearing as Garnet slid next to him, scattering the sand around her. Steven dropped the arm he had pulled over his face and looked to the Red Gem in excitement. “Garnet! Wha’s goin on?” _

_ “What are you doing on the beach?” Garnet asked, and Steven started to feel nervous.  _

_ “Well, Mirror and I were-”  _

_ “You need to get out of here!” Garnet yelled, surprising the boy. “Go!” _

_ “Wha- what?” _

_ Suddenly Pearl slid next to Steven, clutching her stomach and groaning. She turned to see the boy, and gasped. “What are you doing here?” _

_ Suddenly Amethyst flew threw the air and landed behind Steven, showering him in sand.  _

_ Approaching from the smoke was a very tall, gray gem, with a gem on both of her arms. “I’m impressed. You fight well for such defective gems.” she said, her voice almost layered.  _

_ Steven had trouble registering the words, instead clutching the mirror to his chest and watching as Garnet jumped in front of him, trying to block him from view.  _

_ Another gem came out, tapping her wristcuff, annoyed. “Our Amethyst is currently reforming in the ship, should be back in a few hours. Think we can handle this?”  _

_ The tall gem grunted, crossing her arms. “Of course. How have you managed to survive this long without us destroying you, if you’re Rose’s Army?” _

_ Rose’s _ Army?

_ Steven looked up at Garnet, afraid to speak, but Pearl did it for him.  _

_ “We told you, the war ended thousands of years ago! Go back to Homeworld and tell them we’re still fighting for this planet!” _

_ The wristcuff gem sighed. “Unfortunately, we are stuck here until I can send a signal. You’d think they’d be near enough to find my distress calls. Til then, I think they’d appreciate us destroying Rose’s army.” _

_ “Go away!” Amethyst yelled. “We’re not bothering you!” _

_ “I’m afraid you are.” The wristcuff gem replied, then she looked down and her eyes fell on Steven. “What is  _ that _?”  _

_ “Leave him alone!” _

_ With that the gems attack. Steven shut his eyes and tried to crawl backwards, one hand still on the mirror handle. However, he felt himself grabbed from behind, and yelled as the wristcuff gem picked him up.  _

_ “Is this a human?” she asked, curiosity in her words. “Hmm. Disappointing.” _

_ She dropped him, and held up her wristcuff. “Now, how do you think your friends would like every Corrupted Gem on the planet attracted to their gemstones? Let’s set it onto the Defective Pearl first.” _

_ “No!” Steven didn’t know what this new gem wanted, but he knew it wasn’t good, and it sounded like she wanted to hurt Pearl. He rammed himself into the gem’s legs, knocking her off-balance and causing her to curse. She turned around, a fury in her eyes.  _

_ “You little-” she began, but Steven had already started to run off. He was grabbed by the back of his shirt, and he let out a yell.  _

_ “Help!” The gem clamped a hand over his mouth, stifling any further noise.  _

_ However, his voice screamed for help again. It took Steven a moment to realize that the mirror had yelled it.  _

_ The mirror repeated several more times, confusing the gem holding Steven. Suddenly, Pearl jumped at the gem, knocking her over and freeing Steven. Steven rolled in the grass, scampering to his feet. The wristcuff gem had run off, and Pearl turned to Steven, staring down at the mirror. “Steven, is that Mirror  _ alive _?” _

_ Steven looked down at the mirror. “Yeah.” _

_ Pearl looked worried, then shook her head. “Steven, don’t let the mirror go for now. Run before-” _

_ Suddenly, a burst of flame emerged from the behind them. Pearl and Steven turned to see the giant gem summon another flame from her hands, and throw it to Beach City.  _

_ “Stop!” Steven yelled, running forward, and falling over.  _

_ The gems looked to Steven, and the Gray gem laughed. “What is this little… little…” _

_ Steven had gotten to his feet again, and looked down to see his shirt had flipped up, revealing his gem. He flipped it down, but it was too late.  _

_ “She’s here!” The Large Gem yelled.  _

_ “Is she?” the other gem said, emerging from behind the large gem. “Well, we can fix that.” _

_ She typed a code into her wristcuff, and then something roared.  _

_ “Pearl! Get Steven out of here!” Garnet yelled, then turned back to attack the giant gem again.  _

_ Pearl picked Steven up from behind and ran towards Beach City. Once they arrived, Pearl froze as she saw the flames around them. The fireball the Big Gem threw must have caught on something, as all the houses were aflame. People were running around, trying to get out of the fire.  _

_ Pearl put Steven down, fear in her eyes. She looked down at the boy, bit her lip and kneeled down, looking him in the eye. “Steven, you have to run.” _

_ “Where?” _

_ “Far away. Steven, the Gem managed to hack into the thought waves of the Corrupted Gems with her technology. She’s set their senses to track your Gemetics. You need to run. Once you’re far away…” she paused, then wiped something from her eye. “Get the gem in the mirror out. She’ll watch you until we can find you again.” _

_ Pearl grabbed the mirror, turning it to face her. “Do you hear me? Protect him!  _ Protect him _!” _

_ “Pearl?” _

_ “Run!” Pearl handed the mirror back to Steven and pushed him a little. “Get out! Go!” _

_ Steven stumbled a little, confusion spreading through his mind, then turned and ran.  _

_ He looked behind him, and saw Pearl running back to the beach, spear in hand. He was about to turn when suddenly the Wristcuff Gem jumped through the air, slicing Pearl through with some sort of staff. Pearl froze, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.  _

_ “Pearl!” Steven yelled, horrified. _

_ Where was Pearl? She’d just been cut in half! Did… no, Pearl couldn’t be dead… she  _ couldn’t _ be dead… Steven started to notice things blur as he teared up and smoke started to spread. He didn’t know what to do; his feet felt like lead, his mind was flashing, and he started to feel dizzy. _

_ The Wristcuff Gem turned towards him, confusion, recognition and fear flashing in her eyes. Steven turned and started running.  _

_ He started running some more, freezing when a telephone pole fell in front of him, aflame. Everything was so hot, the fire was everywhere. Steven started to cry, turning to the right and running farther, clutching the mirror for dear life. People ran all around him, but nobody he recognized who could help him. Where was his Dad? Were the gems still okay? Where was he going?  _

_ He managed to make it out of Beach City, slowly making his way into the woods. The fire was still behind him, threatening to approach. Steven almost tripped, still crying. He turned to the mirror, facing it. “How do I let you out?” he asked. “How do I do it?” _

_ The mirror then showed a silhouette of Steven in the reflection, pulling out the gem from the back and holding it up. Steven nodded and flipped the mirror over, struggling to pull out the gem with his trembling fingers. He was almost there when he heard a roar behind him, and he immediately yanked the gem out, letting the mirror shatter.  _

_ The gem seemed to float out of his hand, but Steven looked up to see a Corrupted Monster in front of him- dark green, with wild white hair. He tried to run, but tripped on something and fell. Before he reached the ground, he thought he saw something blue out of the corner of his eye, running at the monster.  _

_ Then he hit his head on something, and everything went black.  _

 

Steven slowly stirred, finding himself looking up at a deep blue sky. The sounds of battle were distant, quiet. He tried to stand, his head still throbbing. 

“Hold still.” came a voice, an all-too familiar voice. “You’re still in a lot of pain, Steven.”

Steven turned over. And he saw her, kneeling next to him to make sure he was still alright, her blue colors fading into the background. 

Lapis had finally come for him. 


	17. Ocean Gem

Chapter Seventeen

 

She looked just as he remembered- her short blue hair flapping against her face, her pupil-less eyes narrowed as she studied the boy. 

“Lapis?” Steven asked, his voice trembling. 

Lapis shushed Steven, putting her hands on his shoulders to help him sit up. “It’s alright, Steven. Your gem’s already working to steady your head. You’ll have minor headaches for a while, but you should feel at least a little better soon.”

Steven tried to say something, ask where Lapis had gone and where she’d come from, but when he tried to speak his head started to hurt. 

“Careful, Steven!” Lapis said again. “Don’t worry. I’m going to go make sure those gems don’t bother you anymore.”

“Where’s... the gem… cuff?” Steven managed to ask, feeling a little tired. 

“Gone.”

Something in the way Lapis said that made his blood turn cold, and Steven took a few more deep breaths. 

“I’m going to take care of the fusion.” Lapis told him. “Then I’ll be right back.”

“Wait…” Steven called, a little louder now, but Lapis already started to run. 

Steven grabbed the plant next to him, gripping it as he slowly stood, with the pain in his head slowly starting to dull as his Gem glowed slightly. He stumbled forward, trying to find his footing again. He had to get to Lapis and the Gems. He had to help them. 

Once he found his balance, he started to run, trying to follow the sounds of battle. He started to see the shadow of the massive gem ahead, and then burst through the leaves to see what was going on. 

Lapis was riding on a wave of water, spinning in circles above Gray. The Fire Gem was swinging her axe, trying to hit the slim figure riding the water waves, but Lapis managed to jump and dodge and spin her way away. Gray seemed more focused on offense than defense, and was constantly getting slapped by the water around her. Lapis landed on the ground and spun, sucking the water out of the plants around her and bringing it into the air, leaving the sprouts and leaves behind her to wither and blow away in the wind. Gray spun and knocked Lapis to the ground, but Lapis just rolled and got up again, throwing more water at the giant gem. Lapis ran and leaped on top of Gray’s arm, using the water to propel her forward. She hung from the bottom, smirking, and then jumped again, spinning on the water and sitting on Gray’s head. While Gray started to raise her arms, Lapis brought water from both sides to her sides, pushing and then turning to ice. 

And Gray poofed into a cloud of smoke, two gems falling to the ground. 

Lapis breathed slowly, carefully looking down at the gems. She turned, and Steven saw the Crystal Gems standing behind her, looking ahead to Steven. 

Steven slowly started to cheer. “Yay, we won! Lapis, we-”

“ _ You _ .”

Steven paused as Lapis turned to stare at the Crystal Gems, blocking Steven from view. And Steven heard anger bubbling over in her voice, nearing a yell. When was the last time he’d heard her  _ angry _ ? 

“You three knew I was in there. And you didn’t do  _ anything _ . Did you even wonder who I used to  _ be _ ?” 

The water around her splashed onto the gems, trapping Garnet in the middle. 

“Lapis!” Steven yelled, starting to get worried. 

“ _ I’m Lapis Lazuli! _ ” Lapis screamed, startling Steven and making him fall back. “ _ And I am not your prisoner anymore! _ ” 

The gems then pulled out their weapons and attacked. Lapis’s distraction was momentarily broken as Pearl spun at her, and Garnet burst out of the water to jump at the water gem. Lapis jumped back and summoned three pillars of water, which formed into the replicas of the gems. The Amethyst also made a water whip and attacked the real Amethyst, whose gem glowed as her body shifted to appear bigger as she jumped. The Water Pearl and Pearl started twirling spears at each other, slamming against the other and almost dancing with their maneuvers. The Garnet and Water Garnet started punching at each other, until Garnet punched its head of… which only reformed, and punched her back. 

“Lapis! What are you doing?” Steven called, running up. 

“Not now, Steven.” Lapis said, pushing him back a few steps with a small burst of water. 

“Why?” Steven yelled, but Lapus ignored him. “Lapis, I don’t want to fight anymore!”

Garnet flew behind Steven, landing with a thud against a rock. Steven ran to check on her, looking her over, and turned to see the Water Garnet shoot a stream of water at Garnet. 

“I said,” Steven yelled, finally letting his rage from the last few weeks overflow, “ _ I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT ANYMORE! _ ”

And then he summoned his shield. 

The water bounced off of the shield, splashing onto the ground. The water clones around them then dropped to the ground, spilling onto the dead plants and soaking the Labradorite Gems. Lapis looked- oh gosh. Steven dropped his angry face at the shock of seeing Lapis like this. She looked  _ betrayed.  _

“You’ve chosen them.” Lapis’s voice nearly broke, as she stared at the small child. 

Steven walked towards her, worried to see her start to step back. “Lapis, I-”

Lapis turned and ran, and Steven immediately followed. He heard the gems call after him, but he kept running, stumbling over roots and stems and clumps of earth as he followed the bright blue gem. Lapis then reached the edge of the cliff up ahead, and looked down, before jumping. Steven gasped and looked down as he slid, seeing a small ledge below where Lapis was sitting and hugging her knees. Steven sighed and slid down to join her. She buried her face in her skirt and didn’t turn to look at him. 

Steven called out, “Lapis?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Lapis, please talk to me.”

“No. You’re one of them now.”

“One of them? Lapis, they’re gems, too!”

“You don’t understand!” Lapis jumped up and whipped around, glaring at the half-human. “The Crystal Gems, they don’t care about other gems! All they care about is the Earth! But I  _ never _ believed in this place!”

“You  _ knew _ they were here!” Steven started to yell, noticing a flicker of surprise on Lapis’s face. “You told me we were the only gems on Earth! You didn’t tell me anything!”

“You’d go seek them out, I know you would! And they wanted us to keep running until the Corrupted Gems were taken care of! They’re all tracking you, Steven! We couldn’t just go  _ back _ ! The only reason they weren’t constantly attacking you in Beach City was I kept intercepting them before they could get there!”

“Lapis, I’m not going to be a kid forever!” Steven yelled louder, “I need to know these things!”

“You weren’t ready, Steven!”

“No, maybe  _ you _ weren’t ready!”

Steven didn’t know what made him yell it, but once he said it, Lapis stopped yelling.

“You… you didn’t want to believe that I could be like my Mom.” Steven replied. “She was a Crystal Gem, too.”

Lapis tried to avoid Steven’s gaze. “It’s their fault I can’t go home.”

“Lapis, home is where those awful gems came from. Do you-”

“They’re not like the gems back home.” Lapis protested. “I mean, some of them back home are, but that’s not what our home is like. They went crazy, being here so long. Our home is so much better than that.”

Lapis sat at the edge of the cliff, looking up to the sky. “I just want to go back. I want to go  _ home _ , Steven.”

Steven hesitated, then slowly walked forwards and sat by Lapis. “Lapis, I understand that you’re upset, but… you shouldn’t have lied to me all these years. It didn’t keep me safe, it just made me more confused.”

Lapis looked down at her lap, biting her lip. “I’m sorry.” she finally said. 

“It’s okay.” Steven replied. 

They sat in silence a little longer, before Lapis sighed. “What am I going to do?”

“We could go with the-”

“No. I can’t go with them Steven. I don’t believe in all the things they do.” Lapis shook her head. “I could just go back, but not with my gem like this.”

Steven looked over at Lapis’s cracked gem, until an idea came into his head. At first, his instinct was to keep it to himself, keep quiet. Maybe Lapis would change her mind about the gems. Maybe she wouldn’t want to leave; Steven definitely didn’t want her to go, so soon after he’d found her again. He wanted her to stay with him. 

But no, that wouldn’t be fair to her. It wouldn’t be fair to even deny her a choice. 

“Lapis, I have an idea.” Steven finally said, his heart sinking. “Just… just hold still a second.”

Steven slid behind Lapis, sitting down and staring at her gem. If he was right, if his experience with Connie was really because of him…

He closed his eyes, licked his hand, and put it against Lapis’s gem. 

Lapis shivered at the cold touch, as Steven backed up. At first, he thought that maybe it didn’t work. Then, her gem started to glow. The cracks started to fade, until they vanished. Lapis almost floated as she got to her feet, and two wings, made of water, emerged from her gem. They flapped, almost hesitantly, then faster. Lapis turned around, a bright smile on her face, and two blue eyes looking back at Steven. Steven was taken aback by the pupils: Lapis had always had mirrored eyes, but now, they showed expression, a happy feeling. 

“Thank you, Steven!” Lapis said, her voice bright. 

“No prob, Bob.” Steven replied, still staring at her. She seemed lighter now, freer. 

“It- it’s Lapis.”

Steven laughed. “I know.”

Lapis looked up to the sky, a longing in her gaze. She turned back to Steven, walking closer to him. “Steven, come with me. I’m sure I can convince the gems there that you’re not a threat. They’ll listen to me, if I can just…” she trailed off as Steven shook his head. 

“I… I don’t want to go yet.” Steven told her. “I want to find my Dad, I want to reconnect with the gems. I… I want to learn about my Mom. And I want to stay on Earth.” He hesitated, then asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

Lapis shook her head. “I need to go home.”

“I don’t want you to leave.” Steven said. They looked at each other, then Steven slowly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to Lapis. Lapis opened it up to observe the drawing of her that he’d brought with her. “I’m sorry it’s not finished,” he told her, “I didn’t know you’d have wings or eyes.”

Lapis looked down at the half-gem, then leaned down and pulled him into a hug. She pulled him tight and closer to her, and Steven embraced her back. They stood there for several minutes, until Lapis pulled herself away. They looked at each other then, until Lapis turned around, flapping her wings of water again. “Goodbye, Steven.”

“Goodbye, Lapis.”

And Lapis flew away. 

 

Steven watched her until she was just a dot in the sky, and then he heard gems approaching above him. “...tried to return all of Rose’s memories, too,” said Garnet’s voice. “But I don’t believe it worked. Either too much water got into the device, or it didn’t work because Steven does not have Rose’s mind.”

Steven tried to think of something to say to the gems. He vaguely remembered them now, but that was from when he was six or seven. He’d grown, he was sure that they’d grown. What would they think of each other now?

The three gems landed behind him, and Steven wiped his eyes and turned around. They stared at each other for a long while, and Garnet spoke first. 

“Steven,” she began, carefully, “What do you remember?”

Steven thought back to his vague memories of the gems. A lot of things were missing, but he hadn’t forgotten them. No, he remembered a lot. 

He considered them for a second, then starting to sing. 

“ _ We are the Crystal Gems. _ ” It started off quietly, as a soft murmur, but slowly got louder as Steven saw the relief on the Gems’ faces. “ _ We’ll always save the day. And if you think we can’t-” _

“ _ We’ll always find a way. _ ” Amethyst had joined the song now, followed by Pearl and Garnet. 

“ _ That’s why the people of this world believe in _ ,  _ Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl… _ ”

“And Steven.”

Steven ran over to the gems and hugged them. They hugged him back, smiling and talking about how much they’d missed him, how happy everyone would be to have him back. 

Steven nodded kept his face hidden in the middle of the gems. They wouldn’t want to see him crying this soon after finding him. After all, a hug was a great way to hide your face.


	18. Epiogue

Epilogue

 

Lapis was in a panic. 

It hadn’t been what she’d thought. Too much had changed, too little remembered. And Steven… oh gosh. She shouldn’t have left him, especially not with the Crystal Gems. What was she thinking? She had to find him, had to warn him, had to…

Oh gosh. Would she have to return to Earth? She’d spent thousands of years just dreaming about getting  _ off _ . What was she going to do?

Steven was more important. She had to protect Steven. 

Let’s see, the video recorder was here? This new technology was so strange, so confusing. What was she supposed to do with it? If she sent it to the Earth’s Wailing Stone, perhaps she could get her message across. 

It started recording, she thought, so she started to talk. 

“Steven!” she called first, then pausing a little to breathe. Think, Lapis. Explain your situation. “I hope you’re able to hear this. There’s a Gem looking for you, she even knew your name! I don’t know how. I didn’t tell her, I swear!”

Which gem was it again? She’d been a new model, bright green and exceedingly annoying. Ugh, it didn’t matter!

“She’s on her way to Earth, and she’s not alone. Steven…” Gosh, it really hurt to keep talking, but she had to warn him, prepare him, get him to run again. “Homeworld is not the way it used to be. Everything is so… advanced! I can’t understand it. There’s no way anything on Earth can stand up to it! Please, don’t put up a fight. It will only lead to devastation.”

She paused, wondering how long the recording went on. Then, she added, “Steven, please. Take care of yourself. I love you, Steven.”

She stopped the recording, and tried to figure out how to send it out. How had the Green Gem done it again?

She had to figure it out. For Steven. 

And before they landed again on Earth. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, this is it! I actually finished something for once in my life! XD
> 
> I might do a sequel following Jailbreak, and adding a little more on to the differences from this and canon, it depends on how quickly I can finish "The Lost Falls". 
> 
> Thanks for being so great! :)


End file.
